The Science Practice of Modeling as a Sensemaking Tool

Abstract

Does the scientific practice of modeling actually support students in making thinking visible? Middle school teachers can build from the work of twelve K–8 teachers who wanted to learn how the practice of modeling is developed across grades and analyze how those skills end up looking in middle school. They gave their students the same phenomenon and prompts, tried them out with their students, collected models to compare them, and then came together across two years to discuss modeling. All students across the grades showed similarities in the models, both in terms of how they presented ideas and the scientific ideas. Many middle school models looked similar to those in early grades, and although middle school students showed particles of air in the models, the usefulness of the particles to explain the phenomenon was almost always unclear from the models alone. Implications for assessment of middle school students include discussing models with students to assess their knowledge and including fewer student scaffolds at the onset.

Keywords::

• Middle School
• Multilingual Learners
• NGSS
• Pedagogy
• Science and Engineering Practices
• SEP of Modeling

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We thank Dr. Maria Chiara Simani for sharing her thinking about the practice of modeling with the team.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL

Teacher script for student modeling task — http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08872376.2023.2290801

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leigh A. Kohlmann

Leigh A. Kohlmann ([email protected]) is a former sixth-grade teacher at Rock River Intermediate School in Waupun, Wisconsin and currently a professional learning facilitator. Karen Mesmer taught at Jack Young Middle School in Baraboo, Wisconsin and is now a science education consultant. Kevin J. B. Anderson is the Science Education Consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Abbey Sharp taught at River Bluff Middle School in Stoughton, Wisconsin, and is now the communications specialist in the same school district. Emily C. Adah Miller ([email protected]) is an assistant science education professor at the University of Georgia.