[[alternative]]Use mental model to explore student-guided analogical teaching how to affect the concept heat and temperature

[[abstract]]Abstract The research mainly serves three purposes: first, to understand the factors that influence analogical learning of concepts of heat and temperature analyzing by students with different cognitive thinking abilities in learning from these different analogical materials ; second, to understand students' alternative concepts and mental models on heat and temperature ; third, to make use of Vosniadou's framework theory and Chi's theory of ontological coceptual change to understand students' epistemological and ontological presuppositions of heat and temperature . Seventy eight 8 th graders are involved in this study. Three teaching materials:(1) standard analogical materials, i.e. water analogy mentioned in scientific literature, (2) student-directed analogical materials, i.e. self-generated analogies which are generally designed for the 9 th grader who have learned the concept of heat and temperature, and (3) the materials for the control group. This research is implemented through pretest, teaching, post-post, interviewing and deferring test. The results of the research are as follows. 1. The whole teaching effect on the standard analogical group designed specifically for the research is superior to that on the control group, however, the teaching effect on the student-directed analogical group is worse than that on the control group. Formal operational students could benefit from analogy, but for transitional operational students and concrete operational students, teaching effects are of no significant differences. Further analysis on the learning effects on the concepts of heat and temperature reveals that the focused concept in each analogical material is beneficial, but analogical constraints and students' misunderstandings also lead to alternative concepts, which influences the effect on analogical instruction. 2. Different cognitive thinking abilities affect students' abilities of analogical mapping. Nevertheless, analogical understanding and transfer generate influences of different degrees due to divergent analogical materials. 3. Students of different cognitive abilities hold varied attitudes towards different analogies, which shows that different cognitive-thinking-ability students' attitudes towards analogical material are related to analogical materials. Even though analogy is easier for students to understand, it does not guarantee the success of analogy transfer and learning, which manifests that in designing analogy, other factors should be taken into consideration besides student's familiar experiences and cognitive thinking abilities. 4. When students learn heat and temperature, teachers should take into account epistemological and ontological presuppositions. Under the different-degree influences between perceptual experience and teaching context, students use different ontological concept properties of heat and temperature to form all types of mental models. When inferring the relationship between heat and temperature, we should regard heat as process-oriented concept properties, however, students mistakenly use matter-oriented concept properties to account for relationship. We should put the concept of specific heat in 'the process of changes of heat and temperature', while students mistakenly put it in considering 'the process of absorption of heat.' We should consider the temperature change of the object in heat equilibrium and think of it as CBI-oriented concept properties, but students mistakenly think of it as process-oriented concept properties. Students can not understand that the feeling of being hot and cold occurs in process-oriented concept properties among objects; they mistakenly think it occurs in matter-oriented concept properties of objects. In summary, the analogical materials will be influenced not only by the diversities of students' cognitive thinking abilities and the design of analogical materials, but also by students' conceptual learning of heat and temperature under epistemological and ontological presuppositions.