Sviluppo del concetto di modello in alunni di 15-16 anni

In the eighties the author developed an introductory science course for 15 year old students at the beginning of secondary school in Holland. The aim of the course was to show how scientific knowledge, leading to laws and theorization through models, is built. Ancient models and their bases were discussed and compared with each other and with the students’ own ideas. The students appreciated the role of models and learned to use the kind of reasoning that underlies the evolution of scientific ideas to build their own scientific knowledge and to make their own evaluations of scientific information.