Resumen

ARANA, Aracelis. Representating the environmental complexity: two case studies. Investigación y Postgrado [online]. 2007, vol.22, n.1, pp.13-58. ISSN 1316-0087.

Undertaking the complexity of environmental systems as a thematic content leads to the application of pedagogical methods intended to the construction of mental models in students, which represent such complexity. In such sense, a learning strategy is necessary in order to asses the progress of students regarding the construction of their knowledge about the environment as well as their relationships, interpretations and transferences when applied to particular situations of reality. The main purpose of this research is studying the construction of a mental model about the environmental complexity, in order for students of the Master’s degree in Education, minor in Teaching of Biology of the Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador (UPEL), to develop an integrating vision of the environmental systems dynamic through the application of a proposed conceptual model intended to specify the relationships and interactions occurring between the social and natural components in a specific space and derivating from such model performance. In executing this model, the activation of cognitive and metacognitive process was promoted due to its great relevance in the construction of the scientific concepts.

Palabras clave : pedagogical methods; environmental complexity; mental models; conceptual models; learning of concept; mental representations; knowledge construction.