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Engaging Students in Modeling as an Epistemic Practice of Science: An Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal of Science Education and Technology

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Abstract

This article provides an introduction for the special issue of the Journal of Science Education and Technology focused on science teaching and learning with models. The article provides initial framing for questions that guided the special issue. Additionally, based on our careful review of each of these articles, some discussion of how selected articles within the issue informed these questions. Specifically, when considering key facets of modeling instruction or design features of modeling curriculum, the studies in the special issue provided insight into productive ways in which teachers engaged students in modeling practices. Further, modeling pedagogies—pedagogies for transforming scientific practices of modeling into students’ experience—were reified so that how these pedagogies could be coordinated into classroom instruction was revealed. When characteristic features of students’ engagement in modeling were considered, research offered insight into productive model-based learning sequences for K-6 modelers and how students’ development of productive epistemologies can evolve differently. Finally, the special issue considered how technology facilitated cognitive processes and/or instructional practices by examining learners’ interactions with technology within modeling contexts. In this, instructional sequences using agent-based modeling (ABM) as a central technology are shared. These include the role of ABM in scaling student-modeling experiences beyond individuals to classroom experiences and how ABM can support student investigations of complex phenomenon that is not directly observable, among other affordances. Other articles also investigated some aspects of learners’ interactions with technology to inform how technology-enhanced science teaching and learning with models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Todd Campbell

  2. Gyeongin National University of Education, Anyang, South Korea

    Phil Seok Oh

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  1. Todd Campbell
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  2. Phil Seok Oh
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Correspondence to Todd Campbell.

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Campbell, T., Oh, P.S. Engaging Students in Modeling as an Epistemic Practice of Science: An Introduction to the Special Issue of the Journal of Science Education and Technology. J Sci Educ Technol 24, 125–131 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9544-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-014-9544-2

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