Exploring multimodal scaffolds supporting middle school students’ construction of causal-mechanistic scientific explanations

Computer simulations help students visualize abstract scientific concepts. Yet their effectiveness depends upon the kinds of supports students receive. In this study, we explore the verbal and gestural supports we provided to students as they viewed a computer model of molecular conduction and constructed causal-mechanistic explanations for heat transfer. Using a complex systems and embodied approach to students’ conceptions, we conducted a cross-comparison case study of four students’ experiences with the simulation. By comparing students with richer scaffolding interactions to those with weaker scaffolds, we found that directing student attention towards causal elements in the simulation along with requesting them to gesture about the function of those elements helped students develop sophisticated explanations. We describe these cases and reveal ways these scaffolds can and cannot be enacted with the simulation. Implications for instruction and future work are described.