In the evidence-based explanation, students are asked to include the story of what happened when considering the driving question, important science ideas (i.e., DCIs & CCCs) necessary to explain mechanistically what happened, and evidence of how we know what we know about each important science idea that relates to the story. In the end, this evidence-based explanation can be assessed with a rubric similar to the one created and shared from the Model-Based Inquiry website (See “On the web”).

The purpose of a scientific model is for “describing, explaining, and predicting natural phenomena and communicating scientific ideas to others” (Oh and Oh 2011). As an example, a model of how the formation of clouds may involve the condensation of water vapor with a connection to air movement and temperature is shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1

To explain how clouds are made in this model, students use different colors and circle sizes to show changes as clouds form. Arrows indicate the process of changing air conditions. Words such as “Sun’s Heat,” “Cooling,” “Rising,” and “Condensing” help the reader understand scientific mechanisms that can be difficult to explain with just figures or lines. Generally, models involving scientific processes and mechanisms tend to have many causal relations with directions labeled in between the objects.

We can use this kind of model to help students understand scientific processes and mechanisms in natural phenomena. Moreover, we can use a model to help students predict what kind of cloud would be around their location at any given time. For this, creating new models including more specific information about their environment and air conditions can be useful in making predictions.