ABSTRACT

This chapter examines explanations, argumentation, and modeling as closely related constructs that differ in their nature and function. It aims to illustrate how conceptual change can be seen as an evolution of self-generated explanations, modeling this process as taking place simultaneously along a multidimensional metric for sense-making that is sensitive to the content, the structure, and the context of the explanation. An operationalization is offered for three central dimensions in this metric: intuitive knowledge, mechanism, and framing. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the role that the interrelations and function of explanation, argumentation, and modeling play in this process.