When is a Tree a Process? Influences on Student Representations of Process in Low Floor Qualitative Modeling Tasks

Many learning tasks, including computer supported modeling, require students to learn and use some kind of structured representational system. In order to use any such system, students must make a match between the perceived world and the representational elements given. There is interplay between student conceptions and the representational ontology, with the ontology guiding student conceptualization of the problem at hand, but also with student ideas about the meaning of the representational elements influencing their use. Beyond individual elements, students should be able to combine these elements into a cohesive whole which works as an explanation of system behavior. This involves the development of an understanding of the rules and syntax of the representational system, as well as an understanding of why it is important to follow it. This study describes student use of the idea of process as a basic level modeling entity in several computer-based modeling tasks. In this study, I found when given the choice to use a modeling entity representing processes in models, they do so but sometimes in ways that conflate process with other entities in the system or the outcomes of the process. In addition, students frequently do not explicitly model the processes' influences on the other entities in the model. I offer several conjectures as to why having to do with the students’ orientation to modeling as a representational task and conceptualization of the representational system.