Models of Modelling

Abstract

The widely recognised importance of models in scientific practice suggests that they should have an equally important role in science education. The meanings attached to the word ‘model’ in the philosophical literature and the psychological literature leads to two canonical interpretations: the ‘models as representations’ view and the ‘models as epistemic artefacts’ view. The latter is argued as being the more educationally valuable of the two. The central role of analogy, thought experimentation, and argumentation, in the creation and validation of models – the act of modelling – is explored against a background of the philosophical and psychological literature on the theme. Ways in which models have been developed in educational contexts are then explored, leading to the presentation of the new version of the ‘Model of Modelling’ that is the basis of this book.