Ideas about matter : teaching ideas with a representational focus

These teaching notes were generated from an Australian Research Council (ARC)<br />research project titled ‘The Role of Representation in Learning Science’ in which<br />the topic of Ideas about Matter was taught to Year 7 students through the adoption of a representation construction approach. A description of several of the activities that were undertaken is given as well as examples of students’ work. Insights into the representation construction approach that was adopted by the teachers are also provided.