Modeling as a teaching learning process for understanding materials: A case study in primary education

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Modeling is being used in teaching learning science in a number of ways. It will be considered here as a process whereby children of primary school age exercise their capacity of organizing recognizable and manageable forms during their understanding of complex phenomenologies. The aim of this work is to characterize this process in relation to the modeling of properties of and changes in materials. The data are discussed by establishing relationships between the modeling process with three different aspects: the specialized scientific knowledge, the physical manipulation of phenomena, and the interaction among those participating in the class. The results show how 7 -8-year-old students generate a modeling process that leads them to explain the behavior of different materials by using a "model of parts" created ad hoc. This model, built up from some kind of a discrete vision of the material, proves to be coherent for children of this age and evolves by relating the visible continuum with an imagined discontinuum.

Developing a learning progression for scientific modeling: Making scientific modeling accessible and meaningful for learners

“…It is important to note that these initial studies, consistent with a number of prior explorations of modeling (Acher et al, 2007;Lehrer & Schauble, 2004Schwarz & White, 2005) suggest that core elements of the practice appear to be tractable for both the elementary and middle grades students. Students were able to construct models that were abstracted to some extent from the specifics of the phenomena they studied, and captured important explanatory mechanisms and relationships between the components (e.g., water particles moving from liquid to gas, odor particles in motion, colliding with air particles).…”

“…The pedagogical benefits of working with scientific models rests critically on having students develop models to articulate their own understanding of how a scientific phenomenon behaves (Acher, Arcà, & Sanmartí, 2007;Schwarz & White, 2005;Wilensky & Reisman, 2006;Windschitl et al, 2008). Furthermore, we hypothesize that the process of revising models that learners themselves have constructed to reflect advances in their understanding is more effective than traditional uses of models in helping the learners understand the need to evaluate models and improve them in light of new findings.…”

Exploring the Impact of Students’ Learning Approach on Collaborative Group Modeling of Blood Circulation

“…If cognitive tension develops into cognitive conflict, the group members eventually generate incompatible ideas. Cognitive conflict in group modeling can manifest in the criticism or evaluation of one's own models, or the models of others, and can be solved through justification and modification of the models based on evidence (Acher et al 2007). In fact, social interaction in generating, evaluating, and justifying the models relates to the aims of argumentative discoursesense-making, articulating, and persuading-and this kind of discourse practice may enable students to engage in cognitive collaboration in a small group setting.…”

Progresión del aprendizaje basado en modelos: la enseñanza del aprendizaje del sistema nervioso.

“…Existen varias propuestas de diseños curriculares a nivel micro, es decir de secuencias de enseñanza aprendizaje en las que se abordan temas específicos (Ver: Van den Akker, 2003, Archer et al 2007, Gómez et al, 2007. Sin embargo, aún hacen falta diseños curriculares a nivel macro dirigidos a varios grados o niveles educativos, en los que se propongan modelos básicos para construirse paulatinamente a lo largo de la instrucción, señalando cómo estos podrían ir evolucionando a lo largo de la escolaridad.…”