Model Based Learning and Instruction in Science

Anyone involved in science education will find that this text can enhance their pedagogical practice.

It describes new, model-based teaching methods that integrate social and cognitive perspectives for science instruction.

What's more, it presents research that describes how these new methods are applied in a diverse group of settings, including middle school biology, high school physics, and college chemistry classrooms.

Within these settings and subject areas, key concepts such as the structure of the lungs or cells, molecular structures and reaction mechanisms, or causes of current flow in electricity, have been notoriously difficult for many students to learn.

The studies presented in this book focus on a variety of successful teaching strategies, such as discrepant questioning, analogies, animations, model competition, and hands-on activities.

Five different levels of teaching strategies are described, from those implemented over months (e.g., designing the sequence of units in a curriculum) to those implemented over minutes (e.g., tactics for guiding discussions).

Integrates social and cognitive perspectives for explaining science instruction Describes teaching methods that develop deep understanding and that are midway between pure discovery and lecture approaches Deepens our theory of instruction by developing diagramming systems for tracking model based learning in classrooms

Inhalt
Basic Concepts and Background for Model Based Learning.- Student/Teacher Co-construction of Visualizable Models in Large Group Discussion.- An Instructional Model Derived from Model Construction and Criticism Theory.- to Model Based Teaching Strategies.- Determining Target Models and Effective Learning Pathways for Developing Understanding of Biological Topics.- Co-construction and Model Evolution in Chemistry.- Target Model Sequence and Critical Learning Pathway for an Electricity Curriculum Based on Model Evolution.- Case Study of Model Evolution in Electricity: Learning from Both Observations and Analogies.- Qualitative Research on Specific Strategies.- A Competition Strategy and Other Modes for Developing Mental Models in Large Group Discussion.- What If Scenarios For Testing Student Models in Chemistry.- Applying Modeling Theory to Curriculum Development: From Electric Circuits to Electromagnetic Fields.- Developing Complex Mental Models in Biology Through Model Evolution.- Role of Discrepant Questioning Leading to Model Element Modification.- Using Analogies in Science Teaching and Curriculum Design: Some Guidelines.- Model Based Reasoning Among Inner City Middle School Students.- Six Levels of Organization for Curriculum Design and Teaching.