Grasping Mental Models

Franco, Creso; Colinvaux, Dominique

doi:10.1007/978-94-010-0876-1_5

Cited by 41 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Mental models contain various characteristics. They are generative and synthetic, involve tacit knowledge, and are also restricted by one's worldview [12]. Mental models help individuals give meaning to aspects of the physical world by interpreting information and their experiences [13].…”

Section: The Nature Of Mental Models and Their Importance When Learnimentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into Components of Prospective Science Teachers’ Mental Models and Their Preferred Visual Representations of Atoms

2019

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This study focused on determining the elements of mental models of atomic structure and views on visual representations of models of atomic structure in two sub-cohorts of student teachers studying at a university in Turkey. In total, 141 student teachers participated in this study. In the first cohort, the focus was on 73 freshman science student teachers’ drawings of mental models of atomic structure. The analysis showed a wide variety of individual aspects in the students’ minds when asked to sketch the structure of atoms. The majority of students preferred to draw two-dimensional structures, neglecting the atom’s space-filling character. Concerning the details of atomic structure, the majority of students emphasized only the most essential components of atoms, namely protons, neutrons, and electrons. It was quickly recognizable that these elements were arranged according to different analogies or representations of historical models, particularly related to Bohr’s atomic theory and different representations thereof. Overall, the different visual representations of atomic models the students see in school, almost exclusively serve as the basis for their ideas about atomic structure. Current atomic theory, like quantum mechanical models, are generally not used when students are asked for a “contemporary” model of atoms. Rather it seems that concreteness and functionality are the primary factors leading to the selection of an atomic model when requested. This study is supplemented by data collected from the second cohort of 68 prospective teachers consisting of a diverse group of students ranging from freshman to senior level. The students in this cohort were asked for their preferred illustrations of atoms in textbooks. Open-ended questions about atoms led to further insights. The analysis of the prospective teachers’ drawings indicated that a more careful approach to teaching is necessary to clarify the relationships between different models of atomic structure and to allow students to understand what an appropriate and contemporary understanding of atomic structure should encompass.

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Section: The Nature Of Mental Models and Their Importance When Learnimentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into Components of Prospective Science Teachers’ Mental Models and Their Preferred Visual Representations of Atoms

2019

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“…Vygotsky (1971) specifies learning process as a part of social environment and every information created have traces from cultural, historical or sociological background. Mental models also include these factors as Vygotsky (1971) states and affected from them (Franco and Colinvaux, 2000). Also, Young (2008) underlines the effect of living area on mental model development.…”

Section: Results and Discusi Results And Discusi Results And Discusi Results And Discusiıon ıOn ıOn ıOnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flying, Feathery and Beaked Objects: Children’s Mental Models About Birds

Ahi¹

2016

IEJEE-Green

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“…Researchers and educators have argued that modeling and models should make major contributions to 'authentic' (Roth 1995) science education because scientists often use models to understand and break down rather complex phenomena into their subcomponents for further study and analysis (Franco and Colinvaux 2000). In terms of learning and teaching through modeling, the critical issue is: does one provide students with access to pre-established models or provide time and support to allow students to develop their own models?…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of three‐dimensional computational modeling on student understanding of astronomy concepts: a qualitative analysis

Barnett

MaKinster

Keating

2004

International Journal of Science Education

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In this study, we explore an alternate mode for teaching and learning the dynamic, three-dimensional (3D) relationships that are central to understanding astronomical concepts. To this end, we implemented an innovative undergraduate course in which we used inexpensive computer modeling tools. As the second of a two-paper series, this report focuses on the qualitative differences of students' understandings of both spatial and declarative knowledge domains as reflected by their two distinct learning environments -a traditional astronomy classroom and an experimental astronomy course grounded in problem-solving and modeling with dynamic, 3D, computational modeling software. We found that students who constructed 3D computational models tended to have a more scientifically sophisticated understanding of dynamic spatial relationships, whereas students in the traditional class developed more accurate understandings of the properties and general facts and figures regarding celestial bodies.

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Grasping Mental Models

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Insights into Components of Prospective Science Teachers’ Mental Models and Their Preferred Visual Representations of Atoms

Insights into Components of Prospective Science Teachers’ Mental Models and Their Preferred Visual Representations of Atoms

Flying, Feathery and Beaked Objects: Children’s Mental Models About Birds

The impact of three‐dimensional computational modeling on student understanding of astronomy concepts: a qualitative analysis

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