Investigating Independent Student Work and Instructor Guidance for Tertiary Mathematical Modelling Activities

It is general consensus that the development of modelling competencies requires a balance of independent student work and instructor guidance. To gain insight into this balance, an interpretative description study was undertaken. The study looked at the research question: what is the lecturer's role in balancing independent student work and instructor guidance for tertiary mathematical modelling students? Lecturers and students from three different tertiary of New Zealand mathematical modelling courses participated in the study. Data was collected through individual semi-structured interviews. Reflective thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. The results showed that all three lectures promoted independence as a key modelling behaviour; guidance given should promote independence as opposed to dependency; the lecturer does not have to present in order to provide guidance.