Support options provided and required for modeling with DynaLearn—A case study

Science educators strongly advocate the importance of scientific modeling within science education. Although widely advocated for students, modeling is a complex task involving integration of topics, "languages" and abstraction levels. Thus support for the modeling task and for developing modeling skills is required. The goal of our study was to explore how novice modelers use several support options while performing modeling assignments with DynaLearn—an intelligent learning environment for qualitative modeling. The support options differ by the type of support, the presentation of the support, the relation to previous support, the adaptation to the learner and timing. Findings are expected to influence modifications and further development of support methods as well as providing guidelines for effective teaching using DynaLearn. Additional contributions of the study are insights on how novice modelers approach a modeling task, what type of support they are looking for, how they use each of the different support types, and what kind of instructional interventions might be required