Mental models of cell structure and functioning: two case studies

In this paper students' productions and verbalizations linked to cell structure and its functioning of the Biology course of the “Curso de Orientación Universitaria” previous to the entrance to the university -- 17 to 18 years of age -- are analyzed from the perspective of Johnson-Laird's Mental Models Theory. Once the theoretical and methodological choices have been expressed, the interpretation of the collected material will be carried out, establishing deductions and inferences about the possible ways of representation that had been constructed by these young students for the selected content with which they had worked along the school course. From this discussion, we derive the viability of both the theoretical planning and the methodological choice, as well as the potentiality of this approach in the study of mental representations for research purposes and for the teaching and learning processes.