Drops of water and of soap solution: Students' constraining mental models of the nature of matter

This study investigates how 25 junior high school students employed their bodies of knowledge and responded to problem cues while individually performing a science experiment and reasoning about a drops phenomenon. Line‐by‐line content analysis conducted on students' written ad hoc explanations aimed to reveal students' concepts and their relations within their explanations, and to construe students' mental models for the science phenomenon based on level of specification, models' correspondence with scientific claims, macro versus micro view of matter, and type of evidence used. We then inferred four types of knowledge representations for the nature of matter. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for science teaching. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 970–993, 2004     

Students' models of university teaching

The validation of models of good teaching is discussed in terms of students' learning, and opinions of teaching are considered in this context. First-year university students were asked their opinions about good teaching and 40 items were derived from the interview data. The appropriate student population (2300) was then asked to rate the items for (a) Importance, and (b) Typicality. Discrepancies between ideal and typical teaching were derived for the whole sample and six different degree groups. Generally, the groups have similar opinions but there are significant differences depending upon the discipline studied and specific teaching experiences. Ratings were factor-analysed to reveal the underlying dimensions. The model of good teaching is characterised by two general factors — the first is learning-centred, the second associated with teaching — together with some minor specific factors. No general factors are associated with the typical models which tend to be more complex. Some methodological and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Students' attitudes to an inner-city environment

Conclusion In analysing the results of Tables 1–7, one is led to the conclusion that if environmental education is to have a significant impact in our schools, it has to have some educational relevance, that is, that it must fit into the real life context of the child. This study confirmed that children in an inner-city school had more positive attitudes about an inner-city environment than the outer suburban children who were more concerned with the aesthetically pleasing aspects of wilderness areas (Tables 1 and 7). It seems that the further the reference was from the respondents' immediate surroundings, the less reluctant the outer suburban students were to identify significant problems like pollution. Only by taking into consideration such basic information about each group of children — inner-city, outer suburban or rural — can environmental education programmes be planned so as to present to each group of students the most relevant and effective programme.     

Ninth grade students’ mental models of the marine environment and their implications for environmental science education in Taiwan

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ mental models of the marine environment and to further examine how these models are related to their perceptions of marine problems. One hundred twenty-eight ninth grade students from a large harbor city in southern Taiwan completed a survey including a drawing activity and a set of two-tier questions. Using a four-factor rubric to analyze student drawings, we found that students’ mental models of the marine environment are generally partial and unconnected. In particular, the human component was often missing in the drawing. Students showed a strong awareness of marine problems; however, their awareness is focused on waste pollution. Moreover, correlation analysis showed that students’ mental models are associated with the scope of the perceived problems.     

Students' experiences of learning in a research environment

Research into the research–teaching ‘nexus’ has undergone significant changes in focus and methodology. From an initial quantitative concern with correlating measurements of research productivity and teaching effectiveness, the empirical emphasis has shifted in favour of exploring the experiences of participants (academics and students). This paper reports the findings of interviews carried out in a New Zealand university with 34 students studying across a range of levels in physics, geography and English. In particular, it focuses on students’ understandings of the purpose of a university education and on students’ experiences of research—how ‘visible’ it is for them, where it is located and who engages in it. Analysis reveals that students’ relationship with research varies across the disciplines in both a spatial and temporal dimension according to the ways in which knowledge is conceived of and explored. Accordingly, some students have an early sense of proximity to and/or participation in a research community, while for others, research remains, through their undergraduate years, a remote phenomenon.     

Seventh grade students' mental models of the greenhouse effect

This constructivist study investigates 225 student drawings and explanations from three different schools in the midwest in the US, to identify seventh grade students' mental models of the greenhouse effect. Five distinct mental models were derived from an inductive analysis of the content of the students' drawings and explanations: Model 1, a ‘greenhouse’ for growing plants; Model 2, greenhouse gases cause ozone depletion or formation, causing the Earth to warm; Model 3, greenhouse gases, but no heating mechanism, simply gases in the atmosphere; Model 4, greenhouse gases ‘trap’ the sun's rays, heating the Earth; and Model 5, the sun's rays are ‘bounced’ or reflected back and forth between the Earth's surface and greenhouse gases, heating the Earth. Science textbooks are critiqued in light of the students' mental models and curricular and instructional implications are explored.     

高职学生心理压力的归因分析

对营口职业技术学院学生的心理压力状况及其原因进行了调查研究,调查结果表明：大学生的总体压力感处于一般水平,压力的主要来源是学习压力因素、经济压力因素、人际交往压力因素、就业压力因素。在此基础上,提出缓解大学生心理压力的建议。     

Team learning: building shared mental models

To gain insight in the social processes that underlie knowledge sharing in teams, this article questions which team learning behaviors lead to the construction of a shared mental model. Additionally, it explores how the development of shared mental models mediates the relation between team learning behaviors and team effectiveness. Analyses were performed on student-teams engaged in a business simulation game. The measurement of shared mental models was based on cognitive mapping techniques. The results indicate that a team learning perspective provides insight in how people share knowledge. Particularly the team learning behaviors identified as co-construction and constructive conflict are related to the development of shared mental models. In addition, a shared mental model of the task environment in a team leads to improved performance. This underscores the importance of developing shared cognition in teamwork.     

积极心理学视域下大学生心理健康教育模式的构建

就目前社会发展趋势来看,为大学生构建心理健康教育模式是当前高校势在必行的紧迫任务,它必须做到对传统心理学教育模式中对主观问题意识的过分倾向有效摒弃,从重视大学生积极品质的培养角度来构建教学流程,致力于对大学生自身潜能的深度挖掘。本文就以积极心理学视角来探析它与传统心理学教育方法之间的对比和现实价值所在,并为构建新的心理教育体系献计献策。     

Assessing psychosocial environment in mental health consultation groups

Those of us who work within the field of education are finding ourselves drawn to and mandated to work in groups, such as student study teams. However, most of the theorizing and research on consultation is focused on individual consultation. Yet it is clear that the more we work in groups the more important it becomes for us to understand the dynamics involved in group consultation. The purpose of this study is to examine some of the relevant dynamics in mental health consultation groups.     

Schemas and mental models in geometry problem solving

Recent investigations of mathematical problem solving have focused on an issue that concerns students' ability at accessing and making flexible use of previously learnt knowledge. I report here a study that takes up this issue by examining potential links between mental models constructed by students, the organisational quality of students' prior geometric knowledge, and the use of that knowledge during problem solving. Structural analysis of the results suggest that the quality of geometric knowledge that students develop could have a powerful effect on their mental models and subsequent use of that knowledge.     

Dynamic characteristics of mental models and dynamic visual displays

Mental models are hypothetical constructs for explaining human cognitive processes of understanding external reality, translating the reality into internal representation and utilizing it in problem solving. Three experiments were conducted to investigate important characteristics of mental models, their influence on task performance, and instructional strategies facilitating their formation. The experiments were conducted in computer-based training environments designed to teach troubleshooting electronic logic circuits. The results suggested: (a) dynamic characteristics of mental models are important for solving problems if understanding functional behaviors of the system is required to perform the task; (b) dynamic characteristics of mental models are determined primarily by subjects' understanding of the system features and functions more than by the visually presented training contents of the system; and (c) motion simulating system functions in visual displays is more effective than static visual displays in facilitating the formation of dynamic characteristics of mental models. Consequently, dynamic visual displays are more effective than static visual displays for teaching electronic troubleshooting skills. These findings provide direct implications for the development of training programs.     

Dynamic mental models in learning science: The importance of constructing derivational linkages among models

We present a theory of learning in science based on students deriving conceptual linkages among multiple models which represent physical phenomena at different levels of abstraction. The models vary in the primitive objects and interactions they incorporate and in the reasoning processes that are used in running them. Students derive linkages among models by running a model (embodied in an interactive computer simulation) and reflecting on its emergent behaviors. The emergent properties they identify in turn become the primitive elements of the more abstract, derived model. We describe and illustrate derivational links among three models for basic electricity: a particle model, an aggregate model, and an algebraic model. We then present results of an instructional experiment in which we compared high school students who were exposed to these model derivations with those who were not. In all other respects, both groups of students received identical instruction. The results demonstrate the importance of enabling students to construct derivational linkages among models, both with respect to their understanding of circuit theory and their ability to solve qualitative and quantitative circuit problems. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 806–836, 1999     

College chemistry students' mental models of acids and acid strength

The central goal of this study was to characterize the mental models of acids and acid strength expressed by advanced college chemistry students when engaged in prediction, explanation, and justification tasks that asked them to rank chemical compounds based on their relative acid strength. For that purpose we completed a qualitative research study involving students enrolled in different types of organic chemistry course sections at our university. Our analysis led to the identification of four distinct mental models, some of which resembled scientific models of acids and acid strength. However, the distinct models are better characterized as synthetic models that combined assumptions from one or more scientific models with intuitive beliefs about factors that determine the properties of chemical substances. For many students in our sample, mental models served more as tools for heuristic decision‐making based on intuitively appealing, but many times mistaken, concept associations rather than as cognitive tools to generate explanations. Although many research participants used a single general mental model to complete all of the interview tasks, the presence of specific problem features or changes in the nature of the task (e.g., prediction vs. explanation) prompted several students to change their mental model or to add a different mental representation. Our study indicates that properly diversifying and sequencing the types of academic tasks in which students are asked to participate could better foster meaningful learning as different types of cognitive resources may be activated by different students, and thus shared, analyzed, and discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 396–413, 2011     

Evaluating mental models in mathematics: a comparison of methods

Cognitive scientists investigate mental models (how humans organize and structure knowledge in their minds) so as to understand human understanding of and interactions with the world. Cognitive and mental model research is concerned with internal conceptual systems that are not easily or directly observable. The goal of this research was to investigate the use of Evaluation of Mental Models (EMM) to assess the mental models of individuals and groups in solving complex problems and to compare novices and experts models as bases for providing feedback to learners. This study tested a qualified web-based assessment tool kit, Highly Interactive Model-based Assessment Tools and Technologies (HIMATT), in an as yet untested domain—mathematics. In this study, university students and their mathematics instructors used two tools in HIMATT, Dynamic Evaluation of Enhanced Problem Solving (DEEP) and Text-Model Inspection Trace of Concepts and Relations (T-MITOCAR). The research questions include: Do novice participants exhibit common patterns of thoughts when they conceptualize complex mathematical problems? Do novices conceptualize complex mathematical problems differently from experts? What differences in DEEP and T-MITOCAR patterns and responses exist according to the measures of HIMATT? Findings suggest that EMM and HIMATT could effectively support formative assessment in a complex mathematical domain. Finally, this study confirms a common assumption of cognitive scientists that the tool being used could affect the tool user’s understanding of the problem being solved. In this case, while DEEP and T-MITOCAR led to somewhat different expert models, both tools prove useful in support of formative assessment.     

The effects of the coordination support on shared mental models and coordinated action

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of coordination support (tool support and tutor support) on the development of shared mental models (SMMs) and coordinated action in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Eighteen students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions, including the tool condition, the tutor condition, and the control condition (two groups per condition). Groups in the tool condition were given the task management tools; groups in the tutor condition received assistance from a tutor about coordination; and the control groups did not receive any support. SMMs were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale and coordinated action was analysed by examining learners' logfiles. The findings of this study suggest that tool support facilitates the development of SMMs and promotes coordinated action of each group.     

网络环境对高职高专学生心理健康影响的研究

职业心理和学习心理折射出高职高专学生在职业定势、学习动机、成才抱负、人际关系、青春期回应等方而的诸多心理健康问题。网络己经成为高职高专学生生活的重要组成部分,对他们的心理健康发展也产生越来越大的影响。     

高职学生心理健康现状及危机干预对策的研究

当代大学生面临的社会就业和竞争压力越来越大,因而容易产生多种心理问题。高职学生作为其中一个特殊群体,心理问题表现得尤为突出。本文就高职学生的心理健康现状进行深入分析,针对建立心理危机干预机制进行探讨,提出高职学生心理健康危机干预的相关对策。