Modeling the Round Earth through Diagrams

Earlier studies have found that students, including adults, have problems understanding the scientifically accepted model of the Sun-Earth-Moon system and explaining day-to-day astronomical phenomena based on it. We have been examining such problems in the context of recent research on visual-spatial reasoning. Working with middle school students in India, we have developed a pedagogical sequence to build the mental model of the Earth and tried it in three schools for socially and educationally disadvantaged students. This pedagogy was developed on the basis of (1) a reading of current research in imagery and visual-spatial reasoning and (2) students’ difficulties identified during the course of pretests and interviews. Visual-spatial tools such as concrete (physical) models, gestures, and diagrams are used extensively in the teaching sequence. The building of a mental model is continually integrated with drawing inferences to understand and explain everyday phenomena. The focus of this article is inferences drawn with diagrams.