Designing to Support Iterative Model Revision From Simulation and Research Evidence

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 7
  In Poster Session: Learning Sciences Posters

Abstract

We report on an exploratory tutoring study designed to (1) help understand how students think about two distinct forms of evidence—simulations and empirical reports—as they create and revise models, and (2) support the design of a novel computer-based interface that will help scaffold students’ practices as they iteratively develop a model and revise it based on evidence. Our current study was implemented in the context of modeling how fish live in an aquarium, a well-studied complex system, which allowed us to examine how well students’ models capture the complexity and inter-relationships among the elements within the system. Our present analysis focuses primarily on how students created and revised their different models within the tutoring study.

Authors

• Joshua Adam Danish, Indiana University

• Melissa Moreland, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Zachary David Ryan, Indiana University - Bloomington

• Cindy E. Hmelo-Silver, Indiana University

• Clark A. Chinn, Rutgers University

• Ravit Golan Duncan, Rutgers University

• Na'ama Y. Av-Shalom, Rutgers University