Changes in students’ understanding observed in this
study are similar to children’s understanding of the Earth as
discussed in Vosniadou and Brewer’s (1992, 1994) work.
They found that children have a variety of mental models
of the physical word (i.e., the shape of the Earth, the day/
night cycle) that are based on their everyday experiences.
Once they acquire new information they modify their ideas
to be more scientifically valid. In their work on children’s
knowledge of the Earth, Vosniadou and Brewer identify
intermediate mental models that represent children’s
attempts to reconcile new knowledge that the earth is a
sphere with their preexisting knowledge that the earth is
flat. Some students reconcile the competing ideas by
holding a dual earth mental model