Seeing patterns of change: Supporting student noticing in building models of natural selection

Building computational models is powerful in enabling sense making of mechanisms underlying phenomena. However, an important step towards building such understandings is noticing relevant patterns in the phenomena. In this paper, we examine student noticing in the context of a model-building activity in the EvoBuild project. EvoBuild is a construction toolkit designed for middle school students to build models of evolutionary processes. We draw on data of 7th grade students working on an EvoBuild natural selection activity in their science class. Specifically, we report on three cases of pairs of students working on the activity to examine students’ noticing and sense-making of trait-specific population-level trends in their model. We describe two emergent themes that students need support with: noticing trait-specific trends and verifying observations. Based on episodes from these cases, we present subsequent design revisions made in light of this analysis.