3277

Nicholas Mousoulides, Bharath Sriraman, Richard Lesh

philosophy of mathematics education

2008

23

In this paper we outline the philosophy of the models and modeling perspectives of learning. The paper is based on the Taoist premise that the true structure of things is irreducible to formal statements, propositions or rules. Examples and paradoxes from the natural and physical sciences are used to support the models and modeling philosophy of learning. We also delve into the notion of operational definitions for researching learning that occurs in models-modeling involving complex systems and presents examples of several activities drawn from the engineering sciences that illustrates the thesis of this paper.