On Pi Day 2020 (March 14), we invited Dr. Issic Leung from the Education University of Hong Kong to deliver a teacher workshop entitled "Guidelines for Instruction & Assessment of Mathematical Modeling".

Dr. Leung first introduced what mathematical modeling is and some related research on mathematical modeling education, such as "Blum's Cycle". Then use the story of Cao Chong Weight Elephant to introduce a hands-on experiment, and point out that through this experiment, a model can be built from the results of the experiment. Both teachers and students can experience mathematical modeling from actual conditions.

Later, Dr. Leung used different examples to explain the problems arising from the actual situation, such as "The popcorn bursting problem", "The disposal of fluorescent lamp problem" and so on. He demonstrated how to find the solution step by step through mathematical modeling. In the latter part, he mentioned the Logistic Model which is widely applied in different problems. Dr. Liang also used the COVID-19 outbreak as an example to demonstrate the role of mathematical modeling under the epidemic.

Finally, Dr. Liang explained the main points of teaching mathematical modeling in teaching and some criteria for evaluating students' mathematical modeling products.