Abstract:

This research analyzes the differences that underlie learning the concepts of heat and temperature in relation to the concepts of thermal and kinetic energy through two instructional modalities: by reading an illustrated text and through the use of an interactive digital simulation. Eighth grade students without prior instruction on these phenomena participated in this study, as well as ninth grade students with prior academic knowledge on the topics reviewed.

Significant differences in the resolution of problems related to the concepts being studied were found, in which the best performing participants were those using the interactive digital simulation, and better yet those students with prior instruction on the concepts that were reviewed in this study. However the performance of the groups that used the illustrated text was significantly better than their counterparts on problems demanding a literal definition of the phenomena studied.

This study concludes that while illustrated texts serve well to identify or recognize the concepts being studied, digital interactive simulations are a better tool for constructing concepts that will later be used for problem solving. Furthermore, the use of an interactive simulation allowed novice students to explain the concepts being studied in terms of a scientific language, while novel students who used the illustrated text persisted in the use of coloquial terminologies.

Keywords:

Science Education, Concept Formation, Digital Interactive Simulation, Secondary Education.