Physics 641: Physics Pedagogy
An On-line Course for Teachers of Physics

Modeling

The Modeling Method corrects many weaknesses of the traditional lecture-demonstration method, including fragmentation of knowledge, student passivity, and persistence of naive beliefs about the physical world. Unlike the traditional approach, in which students wade through an endless stream of seemingly unrelated topics, the Modeling Method organizes the course around a small number of scientific models, thus making the course coherent.

Students are actively engaged in understanding the physical world by constructing and using scientific models to describe, explain, predict, and to control physical phenomena. Course content is organized around a small set of basic models. Instruction is organized into modeling cycles which move students systematically through all phases of model development, evaluation, and application in concrete situations-thus developing skill and insight in the procedural aspects of scientific knowledge.

View the Modeling Instruction website by Arizona State University. There you will find articles, lectures, curriculum materials and much more.

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