Semantic views on models: an appraisal for science education

Abstract

If research in science education is aimed at investigating and fostering modeling competence in science classes, there emerges an unavoidable pre-requisite: ascertaining which view(s) on models – of the many available from the philosophy of science – can be valuable for our discipline. Some authors have argued in favor of a ‘semantic conception’ of scientific models, moving away from the classical, positivistic perspectives. But many semantic views exist: How can we characterize them in order to compare and choose which to embrace in science education? On the basis of this initial question, the purposes of this chapter are: (1) to define what counts as a semantic conception of a model, (2) to distinguish between different semantic conceptions available in the late twentieth century, (3) to locate these conceptions among the standard epistemological characterizations of models produced in the history of the philosophy of science, (4) to identify ‘transpositions’ of the semantic views on models that circulate in our community of science education research, and (5) to draw some conclusions and implications for the study of modeling competence.