Discourse Structures When Modelling a Dream Bag of Candies

When solving a modelling problem based on a realistic situation in groups, the students need to activate their mathematical knowledge and learn how to cooperate with other group members, especially when the modelling problem involves the members’ personal interests. In this chapter, we analyzed four groups of fifth-graders’ group discourse when they worked on a situation of buying and sharing a bag of candies. We found six categories of discourse structures: plan, execute, control, poll, negotiate and dispute. Our analysis showed that several of these categories concerned both problem-solving and social interaction. Our findings suggest that this type of modelling problem can promote students’ ability to solve real-world problems as well as allow students to exercise social and democratic norms on a local scale.