DEVELOPING MENTAL MODELS THROUGH VISUALISATION TECHNIQUES: AN EXPERIMENTATION ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM IN PRIMARY SCHOOL

The aim of this research was to investigate how the use of visualisation techniques can enhance the development and use of effective mental models in the context of astronomy education in primary school. Astronomy is a topic that fascinates children and poses didactical challenges at the same time. In fact, many astronomical systems cannot be directly experienced by the children and therefore need to be explored by means of models (mental, physical, graphical, etc.). While children spontaneously rely on imagination as a cognitive resource, mental images are seldom used explicitly by the teacher as a tool for learning, particularly in the field of science. In this work, we applied research results on the use of visualisation techniques for the development of mental models to the design of a learning unit on the Solar System. Using models is particularly necessary for addressing this topic, where children cannot rely on direct observation of most of the objects composing the system. To address our research question, we adopted a quasi-experimental design involving two fifth-grade classrooms, one of which represented the experimental group while the other one was the control group. The didactic units in the two classrooms were designed so that the use of visualization techniques was the only difference between the two groups and the interventions were conducted by the same teacher. The results showed a positive increase in both classes concerning knowledge about the Solar System, and that the technique used in the experimental group helped to strengthen the reference to models closer to the scientific ones.