Working on Modelling Tasks with Much or Little Interest in the Real-World Context of the Task—A Comparison

In contrast to inner-mathematical tasks, modelling tasks have a real-world context that is crucial to solve the task. Therefore, there is reason to question whether a student’s personal interest (or the lack of it) in this context influences their solution of the task. The aim of the project personal interest and modelling tasks (PiMo) is to investigate how students work on modelling tasks when they have (a) much interest in the context or (b) little interest in the context. The solution processes of these two tasks are compared concerning different aspects. This chapter focuses on the beginning of the modelling process when students make assumptions. The analysis of 9 students from 7th grade shows that students make their assumptions more explicitly and justify them more frequently when they have much interest in the real-world context of the modelling task.