Cognition and Instruction

2

Similarity of Form and Substance: Modeling Material Kind

Richard Lehrer Leona SchaubleDolores Strom Margie Pligge

University of Wisconsin, Madison

 

This chapter describes one study within a multiyear investigation of the emergence and development of model-based reasoning. Our emphasis on models follows from the widespread observation that, regardless of their domain or specialization, scientists' work involves building and refining models (Giere, 1993; Stewart & Golubitsky, 1992). Although models are central to the everyday work of scientists, they are nearly invisible in school science, especially in the elementary grades. Moreover, modeling is a form of thinking that is difficult to study, because it coalesces only over years of instruction ...