Student activities are organized into modeling cycles that engage students systematically in all aspects of modeling. Each cycle has two phases:
(1) Model development (one week)
A cycle begins with a demo and a discussion to establish a common contextual understanding of terminology and goals. The teacher is sensitive to students’ initial knowledge state and builds on it, instead of treating their minds as empty vessels.
In groups of three, students design and perform their own experiments and prepare whiteboards for presentation of results and conclusions. Student oral reports articulate and evaluate a model for making sense of experimental results, and submit to questions and critique from students and teacher.
(2) Model deployment (one week)
Students are given a variety of problems and situations to analyze using the model. They prepare to present and defend their arguments and conclusions. Teacher guides students unobtrusively through each modeling cycle, with an eye to improving the quality of student discourse by insisting on accurate use of scientific terms, on clarity and cogency of expressed ideas and arguments.
Instruction with the modeling cycle repairs a common deficiency in methods of collaborative inquiry by showing how to conduct scientific inquiry. Students learn how to proceed with an investigation without prompting from the teacher. The main job of the teacher is then to supply them with more powerful modeling tools.