USING MODELS TO AUGMENT TEACHING AND LEARNING IN INTRODUCTORY EARTH SCIENCE

Through our perceptions we create mental models of the external world and then synthesize these models into conceptual schemes in a process we call learning. Effective teaching demands that instructors probe the mental models their students have of “Earth” and “science” before, during, and after instruction. Using a variety of models instructors can augment their teaching to ensure that their students' conceptual models align with the phenomena being studied. Models take many forms: verbal (similes, analogies, and metaphors), concrete, mathematical, and computer. Suggested by the National Research Council as a principal unifying concept and instructional strategy, student-constructed models can facilitate students' understanding of complex concepts, their ability to make and test predictions, their experience of the creative aspect of science inquiry, and their exercise of logical thinking. If not carefully chosen or used properly, models can be ineffective and even dangerous pedagogical tools. Attendees to this session will be persuaded of the value of using models as an instructional tool, introduced to types and characteristics of all models, receive a set of criteria for judging a model's “goodness of fit” and learn ways to assess students' learning when models are used for instruction.