Resumen de Building Dynamic Conceptual Physics Understanding

Charlotte Trout, Scott A. Sinex, Susan Ragan

• Models are essential to the learning1and doing of science, and systems thinking is key to appreciating many environmental issues. The National Science Education Standards2include models and systems in their unifying concepts and processes standard, while the AAAS Benchmarks3include them in their common themes chapter. Hyerle4and Marzano5,6argue for the importance of graphic organizers to student learning. In addition, there is a growing national interest in defining and implementing computational thinking for students.7In the past 15 years, we have presented dozens of workshops to teachers who are interested in using the computational power of their computers in their classrooms.8�9In addition to other programs, we use systems dynamics programs to encourage modeling in secondary science classrooms. The interface for these packages is a graphic organizer. In this article we will share some of our insights into the advantages of using such systems dynamics software with high school physics students