Models for Understanding

What can be done to empower students to be creative when they are faced with problems? One promising instructional technique for improving students’ understanding of scientific explanations is the use of conceptual models. This review examines three predictions concerning the effects of conceptual models on students’ understanding of scientific prose: that models improve recall of conceptual information, decrease verbatim retention, and increase creative solutions on transfer problems. In a review of 20 studies involving 31 separate tests, results consistently indicated that models can help lower aptitude learners to think systematically about the scientific material they study.