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Emmanuel Rollinde, CY Cergy Paris University, FranceAbstract
This presentation explores how scientific modelling can serve as a transdisciplinary framework for fostering scientific inquiry and critical thinking across all school levels, from early childhood to late adolescence. We first describe how historical advances in the understanding of our Solar system may be described through modelling activiies. We then analyze two classroom case studies: one conducted in kindergarten and another in a high school physics class. Both are structured around the dynamic modelling cycle described by Sensevy et al. (2008), involving observation, prediction, abstraction, and model revision. This cycle is anchored in the educational traditions of Deweyan inquiry and inquiry-based science education (IBSE). In kindergarten, children explore the motion of the sun and shadows, gradually constructing elementary models through embodied experience, drawing, and collective dialogue. In high school, students use a large-scale physical model—the "human orrery"—to investigate Kepler's laws, engage with geometric reasoning, and confront empirical data. These sequences demonstrate that scientific modelling is not only a disciplinary tool but also a powerful pedagogical bridge between language, mathematics, and physical experience. Modelling encourages learners to engage with complexity, navigate uncertainty, and build shared understanding—competencies at the heart of global citizenship and education for peace. It promotes a dialogical culture of science learning, where knowledge emerges through cooperative reasoning, not authoritative transmission. By linking scientific reasoning with students' embodied, linguistic, and cognitive development, this approach proposes a genuinely transdisciplinary educational practice. It fosters intellectual curiosity, epistemic humility, and mutual respect—key dispositions for living together in a diverse and interconnected world.
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