@inproceedings{4652afc6f9fc4996abc0a3c35501d815,
title = "Representing modeling relationships in systems: Student use of arrows",
abstract = "Developing and constructing models is considered a core scientific practice by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). Complex systems present a challenge for students to model due to their dynamic, unintuitive, and interconnected elements. This study aims to examine how 5th-6th grade students symbolically represent connections between elements of complex systems models. It looks specifically at the usage of arrows as a semiotic tool that students use to model various relationships in a system.",
keywords = "Collaboration, Complex systems, Modeling, Science learning",
author = "Melissa Moreland and Morgan Vickery and Zach Ryan and Joshua Danish and Cindy Hmelo-Silver and Danielle Murphy and Na{\textquoteright}ama Av-Shalom and Duncan, {Ravit Golan} and Clark Chinn",
note = "Funding Information: Modeling complex systems can be particularly challenging for students because they have many dynamic and interconnected elements that may not be salient for novice learners (Hmelo-Silver et al., 2017; Wilensky & Resnick, 1999). Asking students to represent their conceptual understanding through creating and iteratively refining models can help them develop an understanding of both the underlying concepts, and the kinds of modeling practices that are core to the scientific enterprise (Schwarz & White, 2005). Prior research has demonstrated that the Phenomenon-Mechanism-Components (PMC) conceptual framework can help students to attend to key dimensions of a complex system as they model it (Hmelo-Silver et al., 2017). Models that align to a PMC framework explicitly represent the components in a system, the mechanisms that connect them, and the overall phenomena produced through their interactions. As part of a larger study funded by the National Science Foundation (#071750-00001A/B) exploring how students use evidence to create and build models of complex systems, we explicitly incorporated the PMC framework as a scaffold of students{\textquoteright} modeling activities to support systems thinking. Students were instructed to create box-and-arrow models (see Figure 1) of an aquatic ecosystem with boxes intended to represent components, and arrows intended to represent the mechanisms relating components. However, students{\textquoteright} use of arrows were quite varied, revealing a range of ways that they think about and represent the relationships between the different aspects of the system. In this poster we answer the question: how did students use arrows to depict relationships in a model of a system, and what might this reveal about their understanding of systems and modeling? Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} ISLS.; 14th International Conference of the Learning Sciences: The Interdisciplinarity of the Learning Sciences, ICLS 2020 ; Conference date: 19-06-2020 Through 23-06-2020",
year = "2020",
language = "English (US)",
series = "Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference, CSCL",
publisher = "International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)",
pages = "1773--1774",
editor = "Melissa Gresalfi and Horn, {Ilana Seidel}",
booktitle = "14th International Conference of the Learning Sciences",
}