This book is about the unique, sophisticated, and rigorous study of mathematics in Latin America developed over centuries of cultural exchange between Europe, North, and South America. More specifically, the book explores the tradition of mathematical modelling, introduced a century ago. This modelling was adapted to assist members of distinct communities to draw information about their own realities through the elaboration of representations, which generate mathematical knowledge that deals with creativity and invention. The book provides empirical evidence that a category of mathematical modelling developed in Latin America assesses the horizontal and reciprocal relations between mathematics (school/non-school contexts) and the real world. These relations provide an epistemological and ontological change, where mathematical knowledge of the others is recognized on a horizontal plane. Further, they oblige mathematics teachers and students to understand as a community of knowledge that builds their own mathematical categories of their environment governed by the reciprocal relationships between academic knowledge and functional knowledge. The dimensions of the relationships make up a frame of reference that guides educational change in mathematics. The book presents an inquiry-based approach of three Latin American modelling programs: ethnomodelling, transversality of knowledge, and reasoned decision-making. Each one, with its respective theoretical and methodological foundations related to ethnomathematics and mathematical modelling, socioepistemology, and the attribution of meaning to learning. Undoubtedly, the three mathematical modelling programs, independently, provide educational gains, each with its levels of specificity and loyal to its philosophical, theoretical, and methodological principles. However, the book places them together, organized by axes, to define a corpus of mathematical knowledge that envisions profound educational change through the development of different approaches of mathematical modelling. The authors of the 18 chapters in this book, who represent the diversity of Latin America, are from eight countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, and Mexico. They were invited to share their ideas, perspectives, and discuss investigations that represent a rich sample of three Latin American perspectives on mathematical modelling.

This book documents ongoing research and theorizing in the sub-field of mathematics education devoted to the teaching and learning of mathematical modelling and applications. Mathematical modelling provides a way of conceiving and resolving problems in people’s everyday lives as well as sophisticated new problems for society at large. Mathematical tradition in China that emphasizes algorithm and computation has now seen a renaissance in mathematical modelling and applications where China has made significant progress with its economy, science and technology. In recent decades, teaching and learning of mathematical modelling as well as contests in mathematical modelling have been flourishing at different levels of education in China. Today, teachers and researchers in China become keener to learn from their colleagues from Western countries and other parts of the world in research and teaching of mathematical modelling and applications. The book provides a dialogue and communication between colleagues from across the globe with new impetus and resources for mathematical modelling education and its research in both West and East with new ideas on modelling teaching and practices, inside and outside classrooms. All authors of this book are members of the International Community of Teachers of Mathematical Modelling and Applications (ICTMA), the peak research body into researching the teaching, assessing and learning of mathematical modelling at all levels of education from the early years to tertiary education as well as in the workplace. The book is of interest to researchers, mathematics educators, teacher educators, education administrators, policy writers, curriculum developers, professional developers, in-service teachers and pre-service teachers including those interested in mathematical literacy.

Over the past decade there has been an increasing demand for suitable material in the area of mathematical modelling as applied to science, engineering, business and management. Recent developments in computer technology and related software have provided the necessary tools of increasing power and sophistication which have significant implications for the use and role of mathematical modelling in the above disciplines. In the past, traditional methods have relied heavily on expensive experimentation and the building of scaled models, but now a more flexible and cost effective approach is available through greater use of mathematical modelling and computer simulation. In particular, developments in computer algebra, symbolic manipulation packages and user friendly software packages for large scale problems, all have important implications in both the teaching of mathematical modelling and, more importantly, its use in the solution of real world problems. Many textbooks have been published which cover the art and techniques of modelling as well as specific mathematical modelling techniques in specialist areas within science and business. In most of these books the mathematical material tends to be rather tailor made to fit in with a one or two semester course for teaching students at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, usually the former. This textbook is quite different in that it is intended to build on and enhance students’ modelling skills using a combination of case studies and projects.

This volume presents the proceedings of the CLAIB 2016, held in Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia, 26, 27 & 28 October 2016. The proceedings, presented by the Regional Council of Biomedical Engineering for Latin America (CORAL), offer research findings, experiences and activities between institutions and universities to develop Bioengineering, Biomedical Engineering and related sciences. The conferences of the American Congress of Biomedical Engineering are sponsored by the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE), Society for Engineering in Biology and Medicine (EMBS) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), among other organizations and international agencies to bring together scientists, academics and biomedical engineers in Latin America and other continents in an environment conducive to exchange and professional growth.

This book offers a new conceptual framework for reflecting on the role of information and communication technology in mathematics education. Discussion focuses on how computers, writing and oral discourse transform education at an epistemological as well as a political level. Building on examples, research and theory, the authors propose that knowledge is not constructed solely by humans, but by collectives of humans and technologies of intelligence.