Scaffolding the modelling process in early science education

Abstract

The inclusion of models in the science curriculum shows promise to let students understand science and acquire scientific skills. By using and designing a model children engage in science as if they are scientists themselves. Engaging in modeling differs from the more traditional curricula in that it is characterized by open ended, discovery based learning in which the information is not structured. This makes modeling difficult and can inhibit the learning outcomes. To let more students benefit from modeling research points to the inclusion of fitting scaffold to help students regulate their learning process. However, how scaffolds interact with modeling has not been researched thoroughly. This study researched the influence of scaffolds on the modeling performance and learning outcomes of children (7-16 years old). An total of435 children participated and designed a model in the drawing based modeling tool SimSketch in which scaffolds in the form of required, in-built prompt. Results showed that the children who used the prompt questions to support the right strategy showed higher modeling performance and better understanding of science. Furthermore, it was shown that better modeling performance is related to better model-based reasoning skills. This study concludes by stating that early science education can benefit from the inclusion of models with fitting scaffolds