Development of Elementary 6th and 7th Grade Students’ Views about Scientific Model and Modeling throughout a Summer Science Camp

In this qualitative study, the influence of a ten-day science camp on elementary students’ views about scientific model and modeling was investigated. Twenty-four 6th and 7th grade students participated to the study. The general aim of the science camp was to introduce Nature of Science (NOS). One of the special aims of the science camp was to introduce scientific model and modeling as an aspect of NOS. Students’ views about scientific model and modeling were investigated by Views of the Nature of Science Version D (VNOS D) question “what is the scientific model?” and open-ended probe questions in the interviews before and after the science camp. Qualitative data were analyzed by using interpretive analysis. Codes and themes acquired by students’ views before and after the science camp were compared and interpreted to determine the change in the students’ views. According to the results of the study, it can be said that students didn’t know what scientific model was before the camp. However, after the science camp, as a result of activities which aimed at introducing scientific model and modeling, they were able to conceptualize that scientific model is a kind of scientific knowledge and were able to define scientific model by stating that scientific model is based on data and thus they are the product of scientific research and experiments.