Scaffolding scientific conceptualization: multiple representation and multilevel visualization using an iconic modeling tool

Difficulties in the teaching and learning of scientific concepts and theories have been well documented in many areas of science, including the physical and life sciences, over the last two decades. Different psychological theories have been put forward as explanatory models for such difficulties. However, another perspective for understanding such learning difficulties and consequently to better support learning is to understand the relationship between the theories and the phenomena they explain. Often, scientific theories involve the postulation of explanatory models that operate at an entirely different level (or scale) in terms of the magnitude and time span from the natural phenomena that it seeks to explain. This paper elaborates the challenges to learning that this poses and introduces how an iconic modeling tool, WorldMaker, can scaffold conceptualization in the learning of a variety of scientific theories.