The Role of Scaffolding Student Metacognition in Developing Mental Models of Complex Earth and Environmental Systems
Bruce E. Herbert November 19-21, 2003. DFG-NSF International Workshops on Research and Development in
Mathematics and Science Education.
Students organize knowledge in Earth and environmental sciences and reason about environmental
issues through manipulation of mental models. The nature of the Earth and environmental sciences,
which are focused on the study of complex, dynamic systems, may present major difficulties to students
in their development of authentic, accurate mental models of environmental systems. This project seeks
to develop and assess IT-based learning environments that fosters student development of rich mental
models of environmental systems through metacognitive scaffolding, manipulation of multiple
representations, the development and testing of conceptual models based on available evidence, and
exposure to authentic, complex and ill-constrained problems.
Subject: Environmental Science, Education Resource Type: Pedagogic Resources Research on Learning: Geoscience Expertise:Complex Systems, Instructional Design:Scaffolding, Cognitive Domain:How information is organized:Mental models, Cognitive Domain:Metacognition, Instructional Design:Use of Technology
CMS authors: link to this resource in your page using [resource 40401]