Abstract: From the perspective of modelling as problem solving, the nature of problem solving experiences is reassessed where students’ interpretation of real-world contexts leading to sense-making and meaning construction becomes their solutions to the problem situations. This paper discusses the design of a conceptual framework for investigating pupils’ mathematical modelling process in a problem-based learning setting and reports findings from a case study involving a group of Grade 6 pupils. The framework provides affordances for tracing the modelling process pupils undertake towards exemplifying the key areas of the framework. Through a protocol analysis method, the collaborative discourse of model development of one group of the pupils was summarized as a modelling path. The benefits of the framework are discussed.

Key words:Mathematical modelling; Problem-based learning; Conceptual framework; Model development