Abstract
We describe modeling as a form of explanation that is particular to science and, based on a research program conducted over the last 15 years, identify the conceptual resources and practices that must be developed for school students to become initiated into this kind of reasoning. We point out that modeling is difficult for novices to grasp but is treated by school science as self-evident, which may account for the fact that it is widely misunderstood by learners and educators alike. We close by considering components of instruction, especially classroom norms and tasks, that best support the long-term development of modeling.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bazerman, C. (1988). Shaping written knowledge. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
Driver, R., Leach, J., Millar, R., & Scott, P. (1995). Young people’s images of science. Buckingham, England: Open University Press.
Gierre, R. N. (1988). Explaining science: A cognitive approach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hestenes, D. (1992). Modeling games in the Newtonian world. American Journal of Physics, 60(8), 732–748.
Kline, M. (1980). Mathematics: The loss of certainty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kuhn, D., (1989). Children and adults as intuitive scientists. Psychological Review, 96. 674–689.
Latour, B. (1990). Drawing things together. In M. Lynch and S. Woolgar (Eds.), Representation in scientific practice (pp. 19–68). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Latour, B. (1999). Pandora’s hope: Essays on the reality of science studies. London: Cambridge University Press.
Lehrer, R., Schauble, L., Carpenter, S., & Penner, D. (2000). The inter-related development of inscriptions and conceptual understanding. In P. Cobb, E. Yackel, and K. McClain (Eds.). Symbolizing and communicating in mathematics classrooms: Perspectives on discourse, tools, and instructional design (pp. 325–360). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Lehrer, R., Schauble, L., Strom, D., & Pligge, M. (2001). Similarity of form and substance: From inscriptions to models. In S. M. Carver, & D. Klahr (Eds.), Cognition and instruction: Twenty-five years of progress (pp. 39–74). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (2006). Scientific thinking and science literacy. In W. Damon, R. Lerner, K. A. Renninger, & I. E. Sigel (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology, 6th Edition, Volume 4: Child psychology in practice (pp. 153–196). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (2007). Contrasting emerging conceptions of distribution in contexts of error and natural variation. In M. Lovett, & P. Shah (Eds.). Thinking with data (pp. 149–176). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Lehrer, R., Schauble, L., & Lucas, D. (2008). Supporting development of the epistemology of inquiry. Cognitive Development, 23(4), 512–529.
Lesh, R., & Doerr, H. M. (2003). Foundations of a models and modeling perspective on mathematics teaching, learning, and problem solving. In R. Lesh and H. M. Doerr (Eds.), Beyond constructivism: Models and modeling perspectives on mathematics problem solving, learning, and teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Lucas, D., Broderick, N., Lehrer, R., & Bohanan, R. (2005). Making the grounds of scientific inquiry visible in the classroom. Science Scope 29: 39–42.
National Research Council (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Nersessian, N. (2008). Model-based reasoning in scientific practice. In R. A. Duschl and R. E. Grandy (Eds.), Teaching scientific inquiry: Recommendations for research and implementation (pp. 57–79). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.
Olson, D. R. (1994). The world on paper. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Palinscar, A. S., & Magnusson, S.J. (2001). The interplay of first-hand and text-based investigations to model and support the development of scientific knowledge and reasoning. In S. Carver & D. Klahr (Eds.), Cognition and instruction: Twenty-five years of progress (pp. 151–194). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Penner, D., Giles, N., Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (1997). Building functional models: Designing an elbow. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(2), 125–143.
Pickering, A. (1995). The mangle of practice: Time, agency, and science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Windschtl, M., & Thompson, J. (2006). Transcending simple forms of school science investigation: Can pre-service instruction foster teachers’ understandings of model-based inquiry? American Educational Research Journal, 43(4), 783–835.
Windschtl, M., Thompson, J., & Braaten, M. (2007). How novice science teachers appropriate epistemic discourses around model-based inquiry for use in classrooms. Cognition and Instruction, 26(3): 310–378.
Acknowledgment
This chapter is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0628253. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions o recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lehrer, R., Schauble, L. (2010). What Kind of Explanation is a Model?. In: Stein, M., Kucan, L. (eds) Instructional Explanations in the Disciplines. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0594-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0594-9_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-0593-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-0594-9
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)