Models and Modelling in Physics Education: A Critical Re-analysis of Philosophical Underpinnings and Suggestions for Revisions

The model-based view (MBV) of science education, which strives for authenticity in science teaching, is currently seeking support from the philosophical positions related to the Semantic View of Theories (SVT). These recent advances are promising steps towards establishing a robust philosophical framework, but they need revision in so far as they are meant to apply to physics and physics education. It is suggested here that in physics education, attention needs to be guided to the notion of the empirical reliability of models and modelling, and to the methodological question of how empirical reliability is established in the process of making a match between theory and experiment. The suggested picture – intended for the purposes of physics teacher education – replaces the current more limited philosophical frameworks used in science education with one of a wider scope. Moreover, the revised philosophical background gives a more authentic picture of physics as science, and the modelling activity within it, than the other current stances in the science education.