Cognitive Perturbation and Conceptual Change in Learning Ecology with Dynamic Modeling

The present study aimed to examine the effectiveness of using dynamic modeling to facilitate students’ conceptual change. The results of the mixed between within subjects ANOVA indicated that the implementation of the instructional programme supported by WorldMaker was effective in bringing about conceptual change in learning the phenomena concerning marine ecosystems. Further, the ANCOVA results indicated that students working in a collaborative setting had a higher gain in the conceptual test scores. Other research findings also reveal that grounding the modeling activities on a social constructivist framework helps foster the constructionof knowledge within a community of learners (Grotzer & Basca, 2003; S.C. Li, Law,& Lui, 2006; Papaevripidou, Constantinou, & Zacharia, 2007; van Joolingen, de Jong, & Dimitrakopoulou, 2007; Wright, 2008). On the other hand, it is surprising to see in this study that after controlling for the effect of the pre-test scores, students’attainment in the pre-test did not depend on their academic abilities.