Using Modeling Tasks to Facilitate the Development of Percentages

This study analyzes the development of percentages knowledge by seventh graders given a sequence of activities starting with a realistic modeling task, in which students were expected to create a model that would facilitate the reinvention of percentages. In the first two activities, students constructed their own pricing model using fractions and then extended the model while experiencing reinvention and extension of their knowledge of percentages. In the last two activities, they coped with a realistic changing reference situation. A control group used a traditional instructional unit. A pretest and two posttests showed between-group differences.