Why does science education need computer models?
In our classrooms today, students rarely build and use even physical models. When they do use models at all, they serve largely to illustrate rather than expand upon the content on which students are working. They rarely work as a vehicle for prediction and discovery. This is a waste. Models make for good education. Models can supplement hands-on experiments, and can do so economically. In addition, their abstract nature furthers student learning of new orders of analysis. Providing students with access to good models will assure that students have opportunities to abstract essential principles, to explore relationships among parts, and to experiment by manipulating variables. Today an emphasis on model-based reasoning fits in with the current view of science education. It appears that modeling software that is sufficiently flexible and requires students to interact or construct their own models can engage students in authentic scientific inquiry and reasoning. (Tinker, 2001,1 Gobert a
Related Questions
- I may have to begin the online driver education or driver training or drivers ed course from my friend’s computer and then complete it from a computer at my home. May I use more than one computer?
- Which are the biggest private companies in the education market in the U.S., Europe, and the world?
- Do I need special computer training to succeed in the Technology Education courses?
