The Many Pathways of Science: Using Freeform to Support Scientific Inquiry and Model-Based Thinking

What if drawing, storytelling, filmmaking, modeling, and design were not just ways to present science, but ways to learn and discover science?

In many classrooms, students are expected to demonstrate learning through a limited range of outputs, such as worksheets, reports, and presentations. Yet learning is not only about communicating understanding but also about constructing it.

Inspired by inquiry-based learning and the Reggio Emilia philosophy, this approach views representation as a tool for thinking. Drawing, modeling, documenting, designing, and creating help students explore ideas, test explanations, and make sense of scientific concepts.

Technology can support this process by helping students observe phenomena, gather evidence, analyze patterns, develop models, and communicate explanations. Rather than asking, "How can I use technology in this lesson?" a more powerful question is:

How can technology help students think and learn like scientists?

The following Grade 7 lesson on the particle model of matter illustrates how inquiry, representation, and technology can work together to deepen scientific understanding.

Context

Grade Level: Grade 7 Science

Content Area: Particle Model of Matter

DepEd Learning Competencies

Students:

• Use models to describe the Particle Theory of Matter.
• Use diagrams and illustrations to explain the motion and arrangement of particles.
• Explain observable phenomena using the Particle Theory of Matter. 

Learning Challenge

One of the most difficult aspects of teaching matter is that students are expected to explain something they cannot directly observe. While students can observe diffusion, dissolving, or changes in temperature, they cannot see the particles responsible for these phenomena.

Traditional lessons often introduce the particle model directly through diagrams and teacher explanations. As a result, students may memorize the model without fully understanding why scientists developed it in the first place.

This lesson is designed to help students construct the particle model from evidence through inquiry.

Why Freeform?

The goal is not to replace a worksheet with an app.

Instead, Freeform serves as a shared thinking space where students can:

• Document observations
• Collect evidence
• Organize data
• Identify patterns
• Develop explanations
• Create and revise models

Rather than separating observation, analysis, and representation into different activities, Freeform allows students to see their thinking evolve throughout the inquiry process.

The Inquiry Cycle in Action

Engage: Notice and Wonder

Students observe food coloring spreading in hot and cold water.

Using Freeform, students create an "I Notice, I Wonder" board.

Examples:

I Notice

• The food coloring spreads faster in hot water.
• The color remains concentrated longer in cold water.

I Wonder

• Why does temperature affect the spreading?
• What is happening that we cannot see?

Explore: Gather Evidence

Students conduct a diffusion investigation.

Using:

• Camera
• Video
• Freeform

Students collect:

• Photos
• Video screenshots
• Data tables
• Observation notes

They measure how quickly the food coloring spreads under different temperatures and record their findings.

Explain: Finding the Pattern

Students analyze their data and identify trends.

The teacher models how scientists move from observations to conclusions:

1. Identify the pattern.
2. Cite evidence.
3. Develop a conclusion.

Students then use their own evidence to conclude that:

As the temperature increases, the particles move faster, causing the food coloring to spread more quickly.

Elaborate: Building a Movement Model

Students are challenged to answer: If you were a particle, how would you move in cold water? What about hot water?

Using their bodies, students physically modeled particle movement.

They documented their movement models using:

• Photos
• Screenshots
• Drawings
• Labels

Students then compare their movement model with their investigation data.

This helps students connect observable evidence to an invisible process.

Evaluate: Representing Understanding

Students selected a pathway for communicating their understanding.

Options included:

• Visual model
• Graph and data analysis
• Audio explanation
• Comic strip
• Analogy
• Physical model
• Science journalist report

Students select the representation that best helps them explain how temperature affects particle movement. 

How Freeform Enhances Learning

Freeform is particularly effective because it:

✓ Combines observation, data collection, analysis, and modeling in one space

✓ Allows students to move between visual, written, physical, and mathematical representations

✓ Makes students' thinking visible

✓ Supports collaboration and discussion

✓ Allows students to revisit and revise their ideas as their understanding develops

Most importantly, students are not merely documenting learning but using representation as a tool for thinking.

Adapting the Idea

This approach can be applied across subjects and grade levels.

Science

• Ecosystems
• Forces and Motion
• Cells
• Climate Change

Mathematics

• Patterns
• Functions
• Data Analysis

Social Studies

• Historical Perspectives
• Cause and Effect
• Systems Thinking

Language Arts

• Story Mapping
• Character Analysis
• Research Projects

The key principle remains the same:

Representations are not only ways to communicate understanding. They are pathways for constructing understanding.

Resources

Apple Tools

• Freeform
• Camera
• Photos
• Markup

Planning Questions

Before selecting technology, ask:

1. What thinking do I want students to develop?
2. How will this tool support inquiry?
3. Does it help students observe, analyze, model, or communicate?
4. Could the same goal be achieved without technology?

Technology should be used when it enhances learning, not simply because it is available.

Why This Matters

Scientists use observations, models, diagrams, simulations, and data to make sense of phenomena that cannot be directly observed.

Students deserve the same opportunities.

When we provide multiple pathways for inquiry and representation, we move beyond asking students to memorize scientific ideas. Instead, we invite them to observe, investigate, model, explain, and think like scientists.

This shift transforms representation from a final product into a pathway for discovery.