Initial Mental Model Research Articles

Transformación de los modelos mentales sobre los conceptos de fuerza y campo eléctrico mediante la metodología Webquest, en estudiantes universitarios de Ingeniería

This paper describes an experimental investigation, performed in higher education, which aims to transform students’ alternative mental models concerning force and electric field concepts. The experience is designed, developed and explained, in light of three theoretical frameworks: Ausubel’s theory of meaningful learning; Johnson-Laird’s theory of mental models; and Vygotsky’s socio-historical theory. In this sense, the WebQuest methodology was adopted, which has proven to be effective in promoting motivation towards learning and cooperative work among students. The sample corresponds to a group of Computer Engineering students, who attend Electromagnetism classes. The pre- and post-tests modes, by means of a questionnaire, which reveal the mental models built by students, establish that they are able to transform their alternative initial mental models into a more accurate conceptual construction about the corresponding physical laws, and, additionally, allow one to infer about the effectiveness of their learning. Moreover, the study aims to promote and reinforce the cooperative work, critical discussions among students, and the attainment of appropriate scientific language to assertively express their ideas.

Modeling causal conditional reasoning data using SDT: caveats and new insights

Modeling causal conditional reasoning data using SDT: caveats and new insights

Students’ mental models of chemical reactions

Previous research on topics such as atomic structure and chemical bonding indicates that students’ mental models are often inconsistent with the scientific models, which may impede learning of advanced concepts. International research suggests that model- based teaching and learning in science education shows promise in overcoming student misconceptions, but research about modelling for chemical reactions is sparse. In an attempt to redress this schism, this study took the form of an inquiry into a cross-age study of 67 students drawn from secondary schools and universities to investigate their mental models of chemical reactions. This naturalistic qualitative inquiry was based within an interpretive paradigm and constructivist epistemology, in which data were generated from interviews with the participants. The data for this inquiry were derived from semi-structured interviews, incorporating the Interview-About-Instances (I.A.I) technique to probe students’ mental models of chemical reactions for various chemical phenomena. Thematic analysis of the students’ discourse of their mental models revealed different types of mental models, named Model A, B, and C. Each of the mental models was characterised based on features of energy change and the process of chemical reactions at the submicro level. Model A was considered as an initial mental model, which was based on students’ experience with changes of matter in their daily life. This model was also attributed with the notion of agent-driven chemical change as its core characteristic. Basically, Model A explained most of the properties of chemical reactions, including the rate, spontaneity and reversibility of reactions. Although, it can be considered a ‘causality model’, it seemed essential for young students in making sense of the chemical phenomena that surround them. On the other hand, Model B was based on either the attributes related to kinetic theory of particles or attributes related to chemical bonding but this type of mental models seemed to share some characteristics of Model A. However, Model C was likely to incorporate the attributes related to both kinetic theory of particles and chemical bonding as core ideas used in explaining chemical reactions. Students’ preference towards a given model in their mental models is consistent with previous studies. This preference is probably because of their early exposure to the kinetic theory, and it is simplistic but powerful in explaining the nature of chemical phenomena. Nonetheless, the model of chemical bonding was considered an ‘enabling’ model for understanding of the chemical phenomena in terms of rearrangement of atoms and as an affordance to make sense of energy change. Students’ mental models were also compared according to their level of education. Generally, most senior university students were found to hold Model C, while junior university and Form 6 students’ mental models were mostly Model B, and all secondary school students’ mental models were Model A. It seemed then that the more exposed the students are to formal education in chemistry, the more consistent their mental model become with the scientific view. Although students’ mental models were categorised in such a manner, all of the mental models shared common attributes, such as the role of reacting agents in reaction spontaneity, energy as a part of reactions, and irreversibility presumptions. This finding indicates that students’ initial mental models were not ‘erased’ but rather coexisted with the advanced mental models, which were developed through formal education. This relationship is similar to how science operates, where superseded models co-exist with more sophisticated models and are still used for practical purposes although scientists are aware of an old model’s limitations and discrepancies. A general conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that students’ mental models were found to be lacking in attributes that relate to scientific ideas such as particle model, particle collisions, activation energy, and entropy despite these ideas having been introduced in their formal learning. Therefore, it is recommended that students should be engaged in developing mental models that enable them to link between macro and submicro levels through modelling an instruction approach that emphasises the understanding, application and construction of models.

소리의 전달에 대한 아동의 개념 발달 연구

This study examined concept development in children in terms of sound propagation. The subjects consisted of 240 five-, seven-, and ten-year-old children from three kindergartens and two primary schools respectively. The instrument used for the purposes of this study was the examination instrument on sound as developed by the SPACE Project in the UK. The concepts related to sound were classified into five stages including : no recognition, egocentric concept, initial mental models, synthetic mental models, and scientific mental models. The results revealed the existence of significant differences in terms of the types of concept that children were aware of, according to age and context. Most five-, seven-, and ten-year-old children revealed egocentric concepts related to every sounds, drum, rubber band context, however, most five-, seven-, and ten-year-old children revealed their recognition of the synthetic models of sound propagation when using the string telephone context. These results have implications for the contents of science education for children when it comes to the development of concepts related to sound propagation.

The evaluation of the consistency of quantified assertions

Consistency is a hallmark of rationality, and this article reports three experiments examining how reasoners determine the consistency of quantified assertions about the properties of individuals-for example, All of the actors are waiters. The mental model theory postulates that reasoners determine consistency by trying to construct a model of all of the assertions in a set. As the theory predicts, consistency is easier to establish when many different sorts of individuals satisfy the assertions (Exp. 1), when the predicted initial mental model satisfies them (Exp. 2), and otherwise when the model satisfying them is not too distant from the initial model, according to Levenshtein's metric (Exp. 3).

Mental Model Updating and Team Adaptation

In this article, we build on theories of team adaptation by exploring the role of team members’ cognitive knowledge structures in team adaptation to a changing task context. We introduce the notion of mental model updating as the extent to which team members update their mental models in reaction to a change in the task situation. In a laboratory study we investigate the relations between initial mental model similarity and accuracy, team mental model updating, the development of novel interaction patterns, and postchange team performance. The results indicate that mental model updating is positively related to postchange team performance. Also, team adaptation patterns accounted for the effect of mental model updating on postchange team performance. We did not find evidence for a positive relation between initial mental model similarity and accuracy and mental model updating.

The evolution of mental model, trust and acceptance of adaptive cruise control in relation to initial information

Adaptive cruise control (ACC) automates vehicle speed and distance control. Due to sensor limitations, not every situation can be handled by the system and, therefore, driver intervention is required. Trust, acceptance and mental model of system functionality are considered key variables for appropriate system use. This study systematically investigates the effect of divergent initial mental models of ACC (i.e., varying according to correctness) on trust, acceptance and mental model evolvement. A longitudinal driving simulator study was conducted, using a two-way (3×3) repeated measures mixed design with a matched sample of 51 subjects. Three experimental groups received (1) a correct ACC description, (2) an incomplete and idealised account omitting potential problems, and (3) an incorrect description including non-occurring problems. All subjects drove a 56-km track of highway with an identical ACC system, three times, and within a period of 6weeks. After using the system, participants’ mental model of ACC converged towards the profile of the correct group. Non-experienced problems tended to disappear from the mental model network when they were not activated by experience. Trust and acceptance grew steadily for the correct condition. The same trend was observed for the group with non-occurring problems, starting from a lower initial level. Omitted problems in the incomplete group led to a constant decrease in trust and acceptance without recovery. This indicates that automation failures do not negatively affect trust and acceptance if they are known beforehand. A strategy reliant upon trial-and-error alone is considered insufficient for developing an appropriate trust, acceptance and mental model. Implications on information and learning strategies are discussed.

낮과 밤의 순환에 대한 유아의 과학적 개념 발달 연구

This study examines the scientific concept development of young children in terms of the day-night cycle. The subjects consisted of 180 three-, four-, and five-year-old children from two kindergartens and one children`s center located in Seoul and Jeju. Individual interviews were conducted to collect verbal and pictorial responses on the day-night cycle. The scientific concepts on the day-night cycle are classified five stages including : no recognition, egocentric concept, initial mental models, synthetic mental models, and scientific mental models. Using two-way ANOVA, scores for the types of concept on the day-night cycles were then analyzed according to both the ages and genders of the children. The results reveal the existence of significant differences in terms of the types of concept of young children according to age. Most three-year-olds children had no recognition. Most three, four, and five-year-old children revealed egocentric concepts. Four-year-old children revealed that were in the initial stages of experiencing the mental models and synthetic mental models of the day-night cycle. Five-year-old children revealed that they were in the early stages of experiencing the initial, synthetic, scientific mental models of the day-night cycle. The results suggest appropriate ways of science education for young children based on the development of scientific concepts of the day-night cycle.

First-year medical students’ conceptual understanding of and resistance to conceptual change concerning the central cardiovascular system

Medical students often have initial understanding concerning medical domains, such as the central cardiovascular system (CCVS), when they enter the study programme. These notions may to some extent be in conflict with scientific understanding, which can be seen as a challenge for medical teaching. Hence, the purpose of this study was to analyse what kind of initial mental models students have about the CCVS and how these models change after a course. Further, we were interested in how medical students evaluate the role of problem-based learning (PBL)-enriched conventional instruction in their learning of the CCVS. Pre- and posttests consisting of a drawing task were conducted with 60 Finnish medical students. Additionally, problem-based learning and course evaluation questionnaires were administered. Results show that one-third of the students had misconceptions such as single-loop concepts in understanding the CCVS before the course. Although the instruction seems to support conceptual change, 10 % of the students did not reach a scientific model. In their evaluations of the learning environment, the students appreciated working in small groups in addition to lectures. Sixty-five percent of the students considered PBL an effective learning method, whereas the rest of the students found it ineffective. In sum, although most of the first-year medical students reached an adequate representation of the central cardiovascular system, too many seem to have resistant misconceptions. Hence, in developing learning environments that support students’ conceptual change in the medical domain, students’ prior knowledge and perceptions of learning environments need to be taken into account.

Rich pitch

This paper argues that intonation contributes to the humorous meaning of a certain class of jokes. Examples of both canned and spontaneous jokes show that two intonation patterns, the intonation of contrast, or “L+H* pitch accent”, and the intonation of given information, or “deaccent”, can contribute to a humorous effect. Both of these patterns act as cohesive devises in discourse: they trigger a mental search in the mind of a hearer for a cohesive tie that may not be obvious from the lexicogrammatical structure alone. A punch line effect is created if this search yields an unexpected incongruity between the hearer’s initial mental model of the joke discourse and a humorous alternative. The hearer must shift his “script” (Raskin 1984) of the discourse in an unexpected way. To the extent that intonation facilitates processing by directing attention to particular elements in the information structure of the discourse (Chafe 1994), the processing of jokes depends in part on their intonation. The implications of this premise for the processing of humorous texts will be discussed for the two intonation patterns in question. It is argued that intonation analysis can lead to a broader understanding of cognitive processes and structures.

The mental representation of causal conditional reasoning: Mental models or causal models

In this paper, two experiments are reported investigating the nature of the cognitive representations underlying causal conditional reasoning performance. The predictions of causal and logical interpretations of the conditional diverge sharply when inferences involving pairs of conditionals—such as if P1then Q and if P2then Q—are considered. From a causal perspective, the causal direction of these conditionals is critical: are the Picauses of Q; or symptoms caused byQ. The rich variety of inference patterns can naturally be modelled by Bayesian networks. A pair of causal conditionals where Q is an effect corresponds to a “collider” structure where the two causes (Pi) converge on a common effect. In contrast, a pair of causal conditionals where Q is a cause corresponds to a network where two effects (Pi) diverge from a common cause. Very different predictions are made by fully explicit or initial mental models interpretations. These predictions were tested in two experiments, each of which yielded data most consistent with causal model theory, rather than with mental models.

Perceptions of E-commerce Web Sites across Two Generations

Introduction The Informing Science framework consists of three distinct parts: informer, delivery mechanism, and client (E. B. Cohen, 1999). E-commerce vendors (the informers) communicate to and interact with customers (clients) of vendor's products and services. This is achieved through a delivery mechanism that is composed of three parts: Web site infrastructure, its human-computer interfaces, and communication medium - Internet. Gill (2008), through a client resonance model, states that client's initial mental model of informing system is altered by a series of filters based on various biological, psychological, motivational, and visceral elements and factors. Based on Gill's model, informer's goal, via design of delivery mechanism, is to acquire client's attention and then to motivate client to engage in informing process. Vendors have choices in terms of technologies they use to develop and support their Web sites but face challenges in designing Web sites that effectively and efficiently inform many different users with different levels of computer knowledge and Internet experience, differing demographic profiles, and presence of sensory, cognitive, or mobility impairments. It is human-computer interfaces that communicate information to customers, and it is through interfaces that customers purchase vendor's products and services, thus communicating information back to vendor. The success of this information exchange is dependent on customers' mental model of Web site, influenced by customers' perceptions of usefulness of Web site and how easy Web site is to use. Numerous studies have examined and predicted usage of e-commerce Web sites using Technology Acceptance Model and its primary constructs of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (see Figure 1) states that success of a system can be determined by user acceptance of system, measured by two variables: Perceived Usefulness of system and Perceived Ease of Use of system (Davis, 1989). According to TAM, a user's perceptions about a system's usefulness and ease of use result in an intention to use or not use system (Davis, 1989; Venkatesh, 2000). It can be argued that a Web site's usefulness and ease of use act upon filters, thereby acquiring customer's attention and motivating customer to use system. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The TAM has been tested in many empirical studies (Burton-Jones & Hubona, 2005), was found to be highly valid and reliable (Koufaris, 2000), and is widely referenced (Devaraj, Fan, & Kohli, 2002). The external variables represent attributes or characteristics of system, such as overall design and features of system; user's computer skills, capabilities, and abilities; and user's knowledge, beliefs, and attitude toward computers. Perceived usefulness is defined as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance (Davis, 1989, p. 320). Perceived ease of use refers to the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort (p. 320). Smith (2008) conducted an empirical study of four e-commerce Web sites with participation from a unique and often understudied segment of population--the senior generation or people defined as 65 years of age and older (Fox, 2004). The research model that was used, showing hypotheses and construct relationships, is depicted in Figure 2. The null hypotheses (SGH) were as follows: * SGH1: The senior's perception of products and services offered by an e-commerce Web site will not have a significant effect on senior's perceived usefulness of an e-commerce Web site. * SGH2: The senior's perception of perceived usefulness of an e-commerce Web site will not have a significant effect on senior's attitude toward using an e-commerce Web site. …

Students’ Mental Models of the Internet and Their Didactical Exploitation in Informatics Education

The Internet constitutes a relatively new teaching subject for the Informatics curriculum. Within secondary education, students should develop an understanding of basic Internet concepts as well as Internet skills. For the attainment of these goals it is necessary that they develop adequate mental models of the Internet. That development should be based on the assessment of their initial mental models of the Internet. The purpose of this study was the investigation of the mental models that high school students form of the Internet in the beginning of the Informatics curriculum. The study involved 340 Greek high school students who completed a written questionnaire and a drawing task. The results suggest that students form simplistic, utilitarian rather than structural mental models of the Internet, which would provide them with an adequate explanatory system of what the Internet actually is and the processes underlying its use. The students' mental models also involve particular misconceptions. The didactical implications of the findings for Informatics education at high school level are considered.

달의 위상변화에 대한 예비 초등교사의 가능한 정신모형

본 연구에서는 예비 초등 교사들을 대상으로 달의 위상변화에 대한 정신모형과 그 모형에 영향을 주는 요소들을 조사하였다. 본 연구에 참여한 예비교사는 교육대 학교 1학년(22명)과 2학년(21명) 학생이다. 자료 수집은 지필 검사와 개별 면담을 통해 이루어졌다. 연구 결과, 예비 초등 교사들은 달의 위상변화에 대한 설명들이 과학적 모형과는 다른 합성 정신모형들을 가지고 있었으며, '가리기 이론'이 그들의 정신 모형에 가장 큰 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 또한 예비 초등 교사들이 갖는 천문현상의 합성 정신모형의 구조와 근원을 알아보기 위하여 그들의 정신 모형들을 형성하는 틀 이론과 특정 이론을 집중적으로 탐색하였다. This study was to understand the components that influence preservice elementary teachers' mental models about 'astronomical phenomena' such as the Seasons of the year, and the Lunar Phases of the month. We selected university of education students among whom 23 were in the second you. The data collected from the paper-pencil test and individual interview with students. The results of this study show that the students had apparent synthetic Mental models, and that the distance theory, and occultation theory had most important effects on their Mental Models. It can be said that preservice elementary teachers' initial mental models of the' astronomical phenomenon' have their origin in their belief sets (specific theory) related to 'astronomical phenomenon', on the basis of which they can interpret their observations and cultural information with the constraints of a naive framework of physics. The structures and possible sources of their mental models for overcoming these synthetic mental models were also discussed.

Instruction and Mental Model Progression: Learner‐Dependent Effects of Teaching Strategies on Knowledge Acquisition and Analogical Transfer

ABSTRACT Two general functions of mental models are to represent human knowledge and to generate plausibility concerning real‐world phenomena. From the perspective of a constructivist epistemology the question is raised whether specific instructional methods have a measurable effect on learners’ construction of mental models. In an experiment with 131 students it was investigated whether there are significant differences between an expository teaching strategies and two guided‐discovery teaching strategies with respect to the acquisition and analogical transfer of knowledge. Computer‐based learning programs delivered the teaching strategies and instructional materials. The effect of a priori understanding, domain‐specific knowledge, grade, and gender was controlled. As a main result, the study shows that the expository teaching strategy was more efficient than the guided‐discovery strategies. Furthermore, an analysis of the guided‐discovery strategies suggests the importance of an initial mental model

Mental models of the day/night cycle

This article presents the results of an experiment which investigated elementary school children's explanations of the day/night cycle. First, third, and fifth grade children were asked to explain certain phenomena, such as the disappearance of the sun during the night, the disappearance of stars during the day, the apparent movement of the moon, and the alteration of day and night. The results showed that the majority of the children in our sample used in a consistent fashion a small number of relatively well-defined mental models of the earth, the sun, and the moon to explain the day/night cycle. These mental models of the day/night cycle were empirically accurate, logically consistent and revealed some sensitivity on the part of the children to issues of simplicity of explanation. The younger children formed Initial mental models which provided explanations of the day/night cycle based on everyday experience (e.g., the sun goes down behind mountains, clouds cover up the sun). The older children constructed synthetic mental models (e.g., the sun and the moon revolve around the stationary earth every 24 hours; the earth rotates in an up/down direction and the sun and moon are fixed on opposite sides) which represented attempts to synthesize the culturally accepted view with aspects of their Initial models. A few of the older children appeared to have constructed a mental model of the day/night cycle similar to the scientific one. A theoretical framework is outlined which explains the formation of initial, synthetic, and scientific models of the day/night cycle in terms of the reinterpretation of a hierarchy of constraints, some of which are present early in the child's life, and others which emerge later out of the structure of the acquired knowledge.

Mental Models of the Day/Night Cycle

This article presents the results of an experiment which investigated elementary school children's explanations of the day/night cycle. First, third, and fifth grade children were asked to explain certain phenomena, such as the disappearance of the sun during the night, the disappearance of stars during the day, the apparent movement of the moon, and the alteration of day and night. The results showed that the majority of the children in our sample used in a consistent fashion a small number of relatively well‐defined mental models of the earth, the sun, and the moon to explain the day/night cycle. These mental models of the day/night cycle were empirically accurate, logically consistent and revealed some sensitivity on the part of the children to issues of simplicity of explanation. The younger children formed Initial mental models which provided explanations of the day/night cycle based on everyday experience (e.g., the sun goes down behind mountains, clouds cover up the sun). The older children constructed synthetic mental models (e.g., the sun and the moon revolve around the stationary earth every 24 hours; the earth rotates in an up/down direction and the sun and moon are fixed on opposite sides) which represented attempts to synthesize the culturally accepted view with aspects of their Initial models. A few of the older children appeared to have constructed a mental model of the day/night cycle similar to the scientific one. A theoretical framework is outlined which explains the formation of initial, synthetic, and scientific models of the day/night cycle in terms of the reinterpretation of a hierarchy of constraints, some of which are present early in the child's life, and others which emerge later out of the structure of the acquired knowledge.

Children's Learning in a Computer Microworld for Transformation Geometry

This dissertation examined the nature of the learning which occurred as twelve middle-school children interacted with a dynamic computer-based environment, or microworld, for transformation geometry over a period of five weeks. The objectives were to build a fine-grained, qualitative model of the children's learning in the domain, and to use this model to refine the microworld through a process of iterative, principled design. The microworld instantiated three euclidean transformations (translation, rotation and reflection) as well as change of scale. Three issues were addressed: the effectiveness of the microworld, qualitative changes in the children's knowledge, strategies, and goals, and the cognitive mechanisms implicated in these changes. The analysis of videotaped data as well as pencil-and-paper measures indicated significant changes in the students' knowledge of the transformations. Final exam performance was at a level of about 70% correct on a 24-item test. Qualitative changes in the students' knowledge included a shift from viewing the transformations as combinations of local changes (e.g., in heading and location) to considering them as whole-plane operations. An important area of strategy change was in learning how to make use of both the graphical and the symbolic representations of the transformations. Finally, in many cases, the students' goals evolved from simply satisfying the demands of the task to pursuing original investigations in the microworld. The mechanism proposed as central to the children's learning was the construction and refinement of entities. The students constructed their initial mental models of the transformations based both on existing mathematical knowledge and on their early experiences in the microworld. As they used these entities in functional contexts, for example in playing games or solving problems, the children were able to discriminate more precisely the properties of the transformations. In a process referred to as conceptual debugging, the students made use of feedback from the microworld to reconcile differences between their naive, prior conceptions of the transformations and their new observations and experiences. This process of debugging and refining entities provided a working knowledge of the transformations for all of the students in the study, and for some students, it also supported more mathematically-sophisticated explorations in the domain.

Training End Users To Compute: Cognitive, Motivational And Social Issues

AbstractAlthough the contribution of effective training of users towards the success of enduse computing (EUG) has been acknowledged by both practitioners and researchers in MIS, very little research has been conducted in the area. Gonsequently, adequate guidelines do not exist for developing effective training procedures. Research findings in such disciplines as educational psychology and cognitive science are relevant to training issues and can be adapted to the design of EUG training.This paper utilizes an integrated training/learning framework developed by Bostrom et al. (1987) to prescribe guidelines for EUG training. The framework proposes two training outcomes: that users form accurate initial mental models of the system and that they have motivation to use the system. In addition, organizational social support is considered essential to foster continued learning. Each dimension is discussed in detail and prescriptions are proposed which are illustrated through examples and supported by research fi...