Drawing Scientific Ideas: A Strategy to Construct "Good" Scientific Explanations

• In Event: Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: Research in Science Learning and Teaching Poster Session 1

Abstract

Engaging students in the construction of scientific explanations is important to improve understanding of phenomena. Nevertheless, students face difficulties in achieving “good” scientific explanations. Considering the potential of students’ drawings as tools for facilitating abstract reasoning, we developed and implemented a teaching-learning strategy that explicitly pushed students to produce their own drawings for describing and inferring on the many entities and processes involve in phenomena. This communication aims to describe and compare students’ drawings and explanations before and after the implementation of this strategy. We collected data from 107 physics-chemistry 8th grade students by a questionnaire. The results show that students’ drawings and explanations improved. The strategy might work as a support for students’ construction of scientific explanations.

Authors

• Vanessa Figueiredo de Andrade, Universidade de Lisboa

• Sofia Freire, Institute of Education of Lisbon University

• Monica Baptista, Institute of Education of Lisbon University