Teaching, three levels

In this chapter, we present an attempt to put these ideas into practice that has three components. First, we use a Model of Modelling , an external representation of the mental processes that we postulate to be undergone as a person forms a model. Second, this model is exemplified by its apphcation to the design of a teaching sequence about a key topic in chemistry, the imderstanding of which requires fluency of mental movement between the three levels of representation. Lastly, this application is implemented in such a way that the processes of students thought taking place can be monitored. 

What capability did the students have both to visualize the three levels of representation and to move between them, during this modelling-based teaching ... 

From the point of view of the focus of this book, the most important outcome was the demonstration that the use of the Model of Modelling as a basis for producing and conducting teaching activities enabled the students to demonstrate their capability within and between the three levels of representation. Taking each of the five aspects of metavisual capability, given earlier, in turn ... 

Students ability to connect observations at the macroscopic level with their descriptions using the submicro and symbolic types of representation improved as a consequence of the LON teaching approach. Teachers attributed the improvement to the consistent use of all three types of representation and to the use of visible models as a tool for bridging the gap between macroscopic observations and symbolic notations of chemical equations. 

This series was launched, by the Royal Institute of Chemistry, in 1959 with the aim of presenting concise and authoritative accounts of selected well-defined topics in chemistry for the guidance of those who teach the subject at GCE Advanced Level and above. Though intended primarily for teachers of chemistry, these Monographs have proved of value to a wider readership, including more advanced students. Up to three new titles are added to the series each year. Members of the Chemical Society ordering Monographs for Teachers may claim a discount of 25 per cent off the published prices. 

The Web offers affordances to students that more traditional means of teaching cannot offer, such as the use of three-dimensional user-manipulable representations of molecular structures and animated molecular-level representations. While the use of on-screen three-... 

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