Scientists - and students - use models to explain real-world phenomena, to make their thinking visible and to make predictions. Join us to explore Model Builder, a free online tool from HHMI BioInteractive that lets you and your students build, save and share models easily. We’ll explore several different activities to engage your students in scientific argumentation and generate rich discussions in your classroom. You’ll also learn about the unique features of Model Builder that can check students’ models for you, providing easy formative assessment.
Amit is a high school teacher at Upper Canada College, an independent K-12 school in Toronto. He teaches IB biology, and has also taught physics, math and Theory of Knowledge.
amorris@ucc.on.ca
Annie is an instructor and educational developer for SCIE 113, Seminars in Science, a new requirement of the BSc at UBC. She can be reached at:
anniepg@mail.ubc.ca
Spreadsheet that provides snapshots and descriptions of each BioInteractive-created model that appears in Model Builder.
(Note that this link is also available on the top right of the Model Builder webpage)
Gouvea and Passmore. Sci & Educ, 2017.
This article develops the idea that models in the classroom can be used to ask students to reproduce something that an authority has developed, or can be used as a tool for asking questions and capturing concepts about the world.
Mark Windshitl and Jessica J. Thompson,
The Science Teacher, 2013.
This article, describes a “toolkit” of different representations of student thinking for use in the classroom. Some are types of models, and others are ways for students to make links between the activities or readings they do and the development of the models.
Kelsie Fowler, Mark Windschitl, and Claus Auning, The Science Teacher, 2020.
This article outlines an approach to designing pictorial model templates that support students in creating explanatory models.
Cynthia Passmore, Christina Schwarz, and Jocelyn Mankowski, Chapter in Helping Students, Make Sense of the World Using Next Generation Science and Engineering, Practices, 2017.
This chapter provides an overview of modeling as a science practice as outlined in the NGSS. It explores the idea of “models of” versus “models for” and connects modeling to the other science practices. Ideas are provided for supporting and assessing modeling. Classroom vignettes help illustrate the ideas shared and provide specific examples.
Christina L. Baze and Ron Gray, The Journal of College Science Teaching, 2018.
This article presents a Model-Based Inquiry (MBI) evolution unit developed and implemented in an introductory biology course for nonscience majors at a community college. Over a period of nine class meetings, students were immersed in the study of Tiktaalik roseae. During this unit students engaged heavily in the practices of modeling, argumentation, and explanation. At the end of the unit, they examined the development of students’ modeling abilities.
Andrea M.-K. Bierema, Christina V. Schwarz, and Jon R. Stoltzfus, CBE Life Science Education, 2017.
The study described in this article investigated whether undergraduate students in large lecture courses would productively engage in science practices during modeling activities. They studied how students 1) interacted with one another, 2) made sense of phenomena, and 3) justified their ideas.
Kristy J. Wilson, Tammy M. Long, Jennifer L. Momsen, and Elena Bray Speth, CBE Life Science Education, 2020.
This article accompanies the Modeling in the Classroom Evidence-Based Teaching Guide and describes research supporting why and how to use models in the classroom along with research questions that remain open.
HHMI is a non profit organization based in the United States whose mission is to support and promote life science research and education. BioInteractive is the educational arm of the organization, supporting K-16 life science education with free resources to support classroom and online learning as well as educator training.