Visualizations may help students understand the network of connections among multiple documents. This study explored how ninth-grade students used a novel digital document mapping scaffold to construct models of multiple documents. We examined students' maps and mapping processes in order to understand how they used the scaffold to visually…

Analogies are ubiquitous during instruction in science classrooms, yet research about the effectiveness of using analogies has produced mixed results. An aspect seldom studied is a model of instruction when using analogies. The few existing models for instruction with analogies have not often been examined quantitatively. The Teaching With…

This article describes how science can lead whole-school curriculum change at key stage 3 (ages 11-14). Two thematic curriculum models are described. Model 1 shows how science specialists can develop student understanding of how science interrelates to a variety of other subject areas, while Model 2 shows how science might help to create a…

The purpose of this study is to use concept maps as an "expressed model" to investigate students' mental models regarding the homeostasis of blood sugar. The difficulties in learning the concept of homeostasis and in probing mental models have been revealed in many studies. Homeostasis of blood sugar is one of the themes in junior high…