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How to Design Representations to Teach Science Concepts

Skillfully designed visual or physical representations can clarify difficult scientific concepts and make them easier to understand and apply. Representations use simplification, analogy and concrete examples to make scientific ideas more accessible. When developing a representation of a concept, remember that it does not have to perfectly reflect everything about the concept you are trying to communicate. Providing a simplified concrete image, model or analogy can help your students make progress toward full understanding.

Instructions

- 1
  List the properties or components of the concept you want to represent. For example, if you want to represent gravity, your list may include that gravity operates over distance, that it is a fundamental force, that it causes acceleration and that it bends space-time.
- 2
  Circle the items on your list that you care most about representing. The fewer items you choose, the easier it will be to create a representation that adequately reflects them. For example, you may decide that gravity's ability to bend space-time is the most important concept you would like to express.
- 3
  Write a list of images, objects or everyday systems that have similar properties or elements to the properties you circled on the first list. For example, gravity wells in space-time could be represented by a bowling ball curving a trampoline, a drawing of a curved grid or a large funnel that draws objects toward the center.
- 4
  Choose the idea that most clearly, accurately and comprehensively represents the ideas you want to emphasize in your lesson. Create the representation by forming the chosen model or drawing for use in the lesson.

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