Using Concept Maps and Gowin’s Vee to Understand Mathematical Models of Physical Phenomena

The fundamental presence of mathematics in the development and comprehension of physics and its applications in physics learning has many forms. Beyond being an indispensable component in the definition of metric concepts that express physical magnitudes, it allows the construction of mathematical models to represent multiple physical phenomena. Mathematical models have several applications in physics. First year physics students often ignore the important role mathematics and particularly mathematical models play in the learning of physics. Students limit themselves to the use of a menu of equations often misunderstood as a set of “cook-book” procedures applied to solve physics problems, without a real understanding of the reason for using a particular function or model to solve a problem. This chapter reflects on the outcome of a research project undertaken at “Universidad Nacional del Táchira” (UNET), Venezuela, which focuses on the different ways teachers and students could use concept mapping and Gowin’s Vee for the mathematical modelling of physical phenomena. We have designed a strategy for the teaching and learning of mathematical models most used in first year physics courses. This strategy uses concept maps to improve understanding of basic conceptual structures involved in the mathematical modelling process of physical phenomena, and Gowin´s Vee as a tool that facilitates the process of building a student’s own knowledge of a mathematical model for a particular experiment.