Students organize knowledge in Earth and environmental sciences and reason about environmental
issues through manipulation of mental models. The nature of the Earth and environmental sciences,
which are focused on the study of complex, dynamic systems, may present major difficulties to students
in their development of authentic, accurate mental models of environmental systems. This project seeks
to develop and assess IT-based learning environments that fosters student development of rich mental
models of environmental systems through metacognitive scaffolding, manipulation of multiple
representations, the development and testing of conceptual models based on available evidence, and
exposure to authentic, complex and ill-constrained problems.
