Chapter 9: Reconceiving Modeling: An Embodied Cognition View of Modeling

In this chapter, we take an embodied cognition perspective to reconceive the view that modeling consists of acts of translation between the domain of the real world and the domain of the mathematical world. In this reconceived view of modeling, it is unnecessary to posit the real world and the mathematical world as separate domains. Instead, mathematics (a product of mind) and the real-world phenomena coexist in the same domain. From this point of view, the body takes on a greater role, bringing together everyday and mathematical experiences. Gesture, imagination, gaze, and language are all activities used by individuals to organize their world and hence to model real-world phenomena.