Developing a Modeling Orientation to Science: Teaching and Learning Variability and Change in Ecosystems (Collaborative Research)

This project investigated the development of middle-school students’ understandings and practices of modeling in the context of investigations of variability and change in ecosystems. The project studied how and to what extent students’ participation in distinct forms of modeling informs their classroom-based citizen science investigations. A parallel research effort investigated how and to what extent the development of teachers’ comfort and proficiency with the practices of modeling variability change students’ opportunities to participate in these forms of modeling and students’ understandings of ecosystems.