Abstract The present study aims to identify conceptualizations of “models and modeling” in science education. It seeks to address questions such as: What conceptualizations exist regarding models and modeling in the context of primary science education? And what is the relationship between the theoretical framework guiding the definition of “model” in each study and its connection to each category of analysis constructed in this work? The literature review was conducted following the guidelines proposed by the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. The search for articles was limited to studies published in indexed journals within the Web of Science and Scopus databases, in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, between 2019 and 2023. Three categories are proposed for analyzing works on conceptualizations of models and modeling: the “instrumental perspective,” the “cognitive perspective,” and the “epistemic perspective.” Additionally, the theoretical frameworks associated with each category were identified, tracing a link between each framework and its respective foundational exponents.
Morales-Garcés et al. (Mon,) studied this question.