Model-Based Learning: An Inquiry Approach to Teach Science

Abstract

Mountain building was one of the first geological phenomena simulated through modeling in the early nineteenth century. Several scientific models were created by geologists in an attempt to understand deformation structures such as faults and folds. However, the learning of this scientific content requires a high level of abstraction and the recall of previous knowledge. The difficulties finding in teaching and learning this process makes evident the not surprising huge alternative concepts diagnose in students. The modeling of mountain building can facilitate the learning process, the irradiation of alternative conceptions and the mobilization of the new learning to solve problems of daily life. With the intention to teach mountain building processes in 7 th grade (students age ranging 12-13 years) the authors came across with the need to verify if an inquiry model-based approach could promote meaningful learning in science students. The purpose of this study was not only finding results to this research problem through model-based learning, but also developing education resources to evaluate if the learning was meaningful. Researchers adopt a mixed-methods research (QUAN-qual model) with the data analyzed based on statistics procedure. The data triangulation was made with focus group interviews. A two hours' intervention program was implemented in a science class composed by thirty students (n=30) of a school in the north of Portugal. Before the intervention students were asked to answer a diagnostic test. After intervention students filled a Gowin's Vee. Six focus group (five students per group) were established and interviews were conducted by a member of the research team. Results showed that girls had better achievement in the diagnostic test in questions related to the identification of faults and folds (χ 2 4=10.874; p=0.028), in the correspondence between the types of forces that originate these structures (χ 2 8=16.148; p=0.040) and their respective deformation regimes (χ 2 1=9.357; p=0.002). Likewise, female students had a better performance in completing Gowin's Vee (ρ=0.515; p=0.004). Nevertheless, both boys and girls explained in the focus interviews how they achieved a meaningful learning supported in the inquiry models' activities.