Abstract

ACHER, Andrés. How to facilitate the scientific modeling in the classroom. Rev. Fac. Cienc. Tecnol. [online]. 2014, n.36, pp.63-76. ISSN 0121-3814.

When involving students in authentic scientific practices, such as modeling (opposed to routines in which students tend to be only consumers of scientific knowledge products), it can help them to understand not only central ideas of scientific disciplines, but also to gain epistemological knowledge and experience, so that students understand how to construct and evaluate those ideas. The scientific modeling practices, however, are not common in science classrooms of middle- and upper-level, and are even scarcer in early stages of the compulsory education. This "rarity" is not a coincidence, because this kind of practice requires facing several challenges for both students and teachers. This paper presents some aspects of the research focused on facilitating scientific modeling during different years of school life. A) To illustrate with classroom situations the possibility to integrate ideas of discipline content in scientific modeling in the first educational levels, considering the evolution of this integration on processes that involve students ideas; B) To examine how the current classroom policies influence the development of these practices; and (c) To describe the research elements that contribute to understand how is it possible to enhance the participation of students and teachers in scientific modeling.

Keywords : Scientific practices; modeling; progressions of knowledge.

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