Exploring Shifts in Middle School Learners’ Modeling Activity While Drawing, Animating, and Simulating Molecular Diffusion

• In Event: Modeling for Understanding and Reasoning

Abstract

Computational media (visualizations, simulations, etc.) allow students to elaborate and test their scientific understandings in ways that may be difficult using only speech or drawing. We report on a multi-day workshop with five sixth-grade girls during which they constructed and critiqued models of smell diffusion using drawing, stop-motion animation, and computational simulation. We analyze video to identify shifts in their modeling practices and conceptual understandings over the course of the activity. We found: (1) despite changes in media, the participants sustained their pursuit of a model of smell diffusion rather than starting over; (2) their model underwent cycles of conceptual elaboration, pruning, and encapsulation when transitioning across media; and (3) participants engaged in different modeling practices with different media.

Authors

• Michelle Hoda Wilkerson, University of California - Berkeley

• Brian E. Gravel, Tufts University

• Christopher Macrander, Tufts University