Modeling functions in motion: an interdisciplinary approach using Tracker and GeoGebra

Abstract

Abstract The teaching of motion often presents challenges in linking physical experimentation with mathematical modeling. This study examines how high school students construct and interpret models of uniformly accelerated rectilinear motion through a didactic sequence grounded in the modeling cycle, the Kinematics Working Space, and the theory of semiotic representation registers. Using Tracker and GeoGebra, students transitioned from empirical observations to algebraic representations. Analysis focused on seven explicitly implemented modeling phases showed that most students successfully constructed and validated models by coordinating graphical, algebraic, and verbal registers. While one group struggled with interpreting trajectory graphs and functional parameters, all engaged in meaningful conceptual work. The study confirms that theoretically grounded and technology-supported environments promote interdisciplinary articulation and foster a reconceptualization of the notion of function, which is not restricted to an algebraic expression but encompasses processes of covariation, the coordination of semiotic registers, and the modeling of relationships between physical quantities.