Modeling-based inquiry as a classroom process running from mental models to consensus models and experimental testing

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The article organizes model-based science education around Gilbert's (2005) categories — "mental models, expressed models, consensus models, scientific models and teaching models" — and a modeling process that moves from encountering a problem, through forming and sharing temporary models, to systematic observation, model evaluation and revision. In the study's classroom version, students form and share mental models, choose a consensus model, assess it for usefulness, predictive power, coherence and testability, then experimentally test, accept, revise or reject it. The in-class process was deliberately stopped at the consensus stage.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Problem situations drawn from the curriculum subject titles, here the phenomena of electrification and electrical current
• Experimental materials attainable enough for students to test their models empirically

Constraints

• The in-class modeling process was designed only up to the consensus stage because the next step would require participants to act as scientists

Target Learners

• 7th grade lower-secondary science students

Learning Goals

• Understanding electrification and electrical current
• Critical thinking skills such as weighing evidence and creating cause-and-effect relations

Claims

• Mbsep Experimental Group Prepost Gain [+M]

Related Designs

• Modeling Based Science Education Program (MBSEP), a 16-hour electricity unit for 7th grade
• ISLE (Investigative Science Learning Environment): inquiry organized around observational, testing and application experiments
• Combining visual demonstrations, guided inquiry, computational-model manipulation, and group discussion to teach cutting-edge science concepts

Examples

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Key Sources

• Bati, K. & Kaptan, F. (2015). The Effect of Modeling Based Science Education on Critical Thinking. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 10(1). https://www.inased.org/

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	design
id	modeling-process-mental-to-consensus-models
title	Modeling-based inquiry as a classroom process running from mental models to consensus models and experimental testing
description	The article organizes model-based science education around Gilbert's (2005) categories — "mental models, expressed models, consensus models, scientific models and teaching models" — and a modeling process that moves f...
status	review
generated	by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-01
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — bati-2015

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