Peer tutoring in a modelling course

A peer tutoring scheme to support the learning of mathematical models and mathematical modelling is described and evaluated. In the scheme students worked together in self-selected groups on several tasks - to carry out and report on an investigation which required creative mathematical modelling, to investigate certain mathematical models published in the literature and to prepare a seminar for their peers to include written notes, an oral presentation and a poster presentation. The evaluation suggests that the students who prepared a particular topic understood that topic very well, and that the rest of the class benefited most from the written notes that were prepared for them.