Abstract
This article presents the results of a research investigating middle school students' mental models of four seasons and their learning processes of reading. Twenty ninth grade students were stratified by their spatial abilities first, and then randomly assigned to a treatment or a control group. Ten students were in each group. The design of the study has three phases: pretest, reading text and providing explanations, and posttest.The results show that the use of refutational text and augmented activation activities improved the students' achievement in learning of four seasons. In particular, the high spatial ability students outperformed the low spatial ability students. Also, the findings suggest that there are six major types of mental models of four seasons held by the students. After reading the materials, high spatial abaility students were able to move their mental models closer to scientific models, while the low spatial ability students were less likely to change their mental models. This was further examined in their inferences generated while reading the text. The result indicates incorrect inferences affect their understanding of the concepts of four seasons. Threrfore, some the oretical frameworks are outlined to explain the formation of the students' mental models of the four seasons and the structurte of the acquired knowledge.
| Keywords: | Mental Models; Formation of Four Seasons; Spatial Ability; Teaching Materials; Inference |
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