Analysis of the Institutional Relationship of the Modeling Activity in a Moroccan High School Textbook

Abstract

To identify the institutional relationship to modeling as an element of algebraic thinking, this article aims at analyzing the algebraic potential residing in the modeling activities that appear in the school textbook "Al-Moufid"; referring to the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (TAD) developed by Chevalard(1999) and to the Epistemological Reference Model of Algebraic Thinking (MERPA) proposed by Najar et al.( 2021). This official textbook is for 1st-year secondary Moroccan students (Age 12 to 13), as a level in which the arithmetic-algebra transition is manifested. In this institution, the pedagogical guidelines treat modeling as a skill to be developed in students without making an explicit definition or a link with the development of algebraic thinking. This analysis shows the considerable presence of modeling activities but with insufficient algebraic potential. On the other hand, several proposed modeling activities do not allow students to go completely through the modeling process as described by Chevallard (Chevallard, 1989).
 
 Received: 17 October 2022 / Accepted: 29 December 2022 / Published: 5 January 2023