MODELLING SEISMIC RISKS: VALIDATING THE USE OF GOWIN'S VEE

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2015

Authors

Clara Vasconcelos (Author) FCUP; Torres, J (Author) Other

Conference proceedings International

Title: ICERI2015: 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

Pages: 2607-2611

8th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI)

Seville, SPAIN, NOV 16-20, 2015

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00P-C0G

Abstract (EN): When students contact with teaching models they become more capable of building more consistent mental models. This reconstruction process is often complex and may generate cognitive conflicts. Modern geology acquired a laboratory nature only in the early nineteenth century when resorting to experimental analogue models in order to endorse plutonism. These initially static models evolved into dynamic experimental apparatus that respected rules of proportionality, which gradually gave them the status of representations of natural phenomena. Nonetheless, when they were incorporated in textbooks ensuing learning objectives, they often forgot the required analogy between the model and the real geological process that they were trying to represent. In addition to using materials without analogous rheological behaviour, school models also forgot dynamic, kinematic and geometric similarities. A heuristic tool to help students to understand the construction of scientific knowledge and further develop their scientific competencies must accompany the use of modelling in the classroom. The Vee heuristic for understanding knowledge and knowledge production is the result of more than 20 years of research undertaken by Gowin. This author was searching for a method to help students understand the structure of knowledge and the ways in which knowledge is produced. The Vee was called heuristic because its objective was to help to solve a question or to understand a procedure. Initially, it was used to clarify the nature and purpose of laboratory work. Today, it is applied to many different subjects and with different purposes such as evaluating scientific knowledge or scientific competencies. This work involves the construction of two teaching models focused on seismic risks and the validation of the corresponding Gowin Vees as heuristic tools for inquiry-based teaching and learning. Two modelling activities were conducted, both requiring the manipulation of only one variable ( all other variables remained constant). The first activity intended to answer the question "How does the distance to the epicentre influence the effects of an earthquake on the anthropogenic constructions?" The second modelling activity intended to answer the question "What is the effect of seismic waves in sandy and clay soils, when inclined at 30 degrees?" The activities were filmed for subsequent analysis, which assisted in the classification of the Gowin Vees. The Gowin Vees were classified by assigning 10 points to each item. In addition to the acknowledged efficiency of this instrument, the validity of the Gowin Vees that were used in the research was confirmed by resorting to content analysis, undertaken by 21 experts in two consecutive academic years. In the first year, 19 students attending the 8th grade ( average age of 13.3 years) in two public schools of the North of the country answered the instruments. In the second year, 9 students attending the 8th grade ( average age 13.7 years) in a public school of the North of the country carried out the activities. Following this validation, the reliability of the instrument was determined by measuring answers in two consecutive school years, a task that was undertaken by different observers. The consensus was up to 80% thereby confirming the reliability of these instruments that can be used in future studies with similar samples.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 5