The development of contemporary mathematics education considers mathematical knowledge inside and outside the school and integrates modeling so that mathematics is used in real life of the citizens. This involves examining a mathematical category at school, that values the horizontal and reciprocal relationships between mathematics and the real world. For the context of this article, theoretical approaches are considered in relation to the social construction of mathematical knowledge: socio-critical perspective, the reproducibility, ethnomathematics, socioepistemology and interdisciplinary ecosystems. The principles that underlie these approaches regulate the programs of mathematical modelling. With this framework we reflect on the educational impact of these programs and the role of the mathematics teachers.