Setting the Q
Models & Modelling to support creative thinking
Professor John Gilbert from the University of Reading describes a model as a simplified version of something made so that explanations about it can be produced. There are various ways in which the scientific models within the curriculum can be communicated to children - Modes of representation.
Whenever any of us learns something new we respond to whichever mode of representation we have experienced and form our own internal mental model of the phenomenon. The ability to manipulate a mental model is known as visualization and it requires creative thinking skills. It is visualization that gives us the capability to both form our own mental models and to make predictions based upon them.
The primary and secondary Science curricula are full of simplified models of scientific phenomena. As an example, think about how the concept of materials in Key Stage 1 evolves to become the states of matter by the end of KS2 and then changes again to become particle and kinetic theories in KS3 only then to be updated into atomic structure and bonding during KS4. If chemistry is studied post-16 then the model for the structure of the atom is revised once again and then at University level the model becomes ever more complex as new theories and models are developed and accepted by the scientific community. So which model is the right one? The answer is all of them and none of them - they are all tools to assist us to form our own explanations.
Visualizing a simple model and using this to form predictions or an explanation improves our level of understanding. As we gain the confidence to do this with simple scientific models we then gain the confidence and ability to progress to learning more complex and sophisticated scientific models.
Science develops and encourages children's skills of forming their own mental models of the world around them. As they move through school these mental models should be challenged to evolve and change in the light of new experiences. As we explained earlier, progression in Science should not be viewed as accelerating pupils so that they can be taught more complex models at an earlier age. The best learning takes place when we can motivate children to challenge and adapt their own mental models for themselves in the light of their own new experiences. The 'See' section of the Thinking Frame Approach is the place for this to happen and it works best when we can give children hands-on experience of a counter intuitive phenomenon.