Modelling Dynamic Systems: Examples Involving an Iconic Oriented Environment

We present a modelling environment based on the use of iconic representations consisting of elements, as containers and connected flows, able to describe the relationships between relevant variables of dynamic systems. The procedures involved are aimed to make students aware of the reasoning processes to describe, formalise and explain complex system behaviours. Moreover, we show how these strategies may allow the overcoming of some well-known difficulties involved in pupil understanding of mathematical formalisms, such as derivatives and differential equations and their real meaning. Our reported modelling examples were experimented on during some laboratory sessions of the Pre-Service School for Physics Teacher Education (S.S.I.S.) and validated in the trainee teachers' apprenticeship activities.