Contributions of Digital Videos in Mathematical Modelling Practices: Semiotic Meanings and Resources

Abstract The use of videos has gained prominence in the research about mathematics teaching and learning and stands as a challenge within the mathematical modelling community. However, further investigation is needed to explore the contributions of videos to mathematical modelling practices, including their roles in shaping contexts, resources, problems, and tasks. We investigated how video-responses can contribute to mathematical modelling practices. The research was developed in an online course with 20 in-service teachers who worked in pairs to solve video-problems and produced a new video showing their solution (referred to as video-responses). The research data were collected during video problem-solving and included interviews and the videos produced by the participants. In this paper, we used the construct Humans-with-Media along with Social Semiotics to investigate the mathematical modelling practices of four pairs of teachers. The data analysis, conducted using thematic analysis, reveals that video —with their multimodality and rich semiotic resources—offer meaning-making in modelling practices. This study also identifies simultaneity, contrast, sequencing, replication, complementarity, and juxtaposition as key features that combine semiotic resources in videos, contributing to the meaning-making process in modelling practices. Additionally, meanings of other aspects of modelling were uncovered and are reported in this study.