This study explores the spontaneous explanatory models children construct, critique, and revise in the context of tasks in which children need to predict, observe, and explain phenomena involving magnetism. It further investigates what conceptual resources students use, and in what ways they use them, to construct explanatory models, and the…

This paper illustrates a series of activities designed to encourage fourth to sixth-grade students to develop their conceptions of magnets. Through scaffolding activities and facilitation from the teacher, students will be able to generate, evaluate, and refine their explanations for how magnets work. Students can gradually develop sophisticated…