Quantitative Reasoning and Thinking About Systems: The Case of Climate Change

• In Event: Developing and Studying Mathematics Understandings

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of quantitative reasoning in developing an understanding of the Erath’s energy budget, a key concept in climate science, as a system formed by multiple interrelated energy flows between the sun, the surface, and the atmosphere. The paper illustrates these claims by comparing the quantitative reasoning of two preservice mathematics teachers (PSTs) who participated in a previous study. First, the PSTs must understand the quantities (parts) involved in the energy budget: concentration, irradiance, and their units of measure. Second, they must make sense of the interrelationships between those quantities in the context of the energy budget. It is concluded that a sophisticated quantitative understanding of the energy budget can support the understanding of climate change.

Author

• Dario Andres Gonzalez, Universidad de Chile