To help students acquire mathematics and science knowledge and competencies, educators typically use multiple external representations (MERs). There has been considerable interest in examining ways to present, sequence, and combine MERs. One prominent approach is the concreteness fading sequence, which posits that instruction should start with…

Given the evolution of biology, chemistry, and physics over the past 70 years, educators should question the traditional sequencing of high school science courses. Reversing the sequence helps students see the logical progression of modern scientific thought, from forces and the movement of objects to molecular structures and the development of…

The purpose of this study was to construct and study the impact of a research-based sequence for teaching the concept of modelling to seventh-grade science students. We identified students' notions of models and the aspects of school science to be addressed regarding the model concept, which were then taken into account when we planned the…