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Proposing scientific descriptions is critical for individuals to cope with daily problems and acquire essential information. Nonetheless, few classes have enhanced students' ability to describe facts of scientific phenomena. Thus, using a tool of technology-based laboratory, this research examined whether students' scientific descriptions and mathematical modelling behaviours could be improved. The participants included 52 undergraduate students randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. Two prompts were developed to remind the experimental group that it is common to place 'time' along the x-axis and that mathematical modelling is important in physics. Results showed that as expected, all participants generated more propositions in scientific descriptions, especially the experimental group. However, contrary to the hypothesis, the participants did not propose more correct propositions and the effect of group was limited. Moreover, the hypotheses were partially supported that the participants used more image-based and mathematics-based representations to describe phenomena, and the proportion of participants whose propositional type was quantitatively increased, though no main effects of group were observed. Most participants adjusted their mathematical models by keeping slightly changing the coefficients/constants to fit the data, rather than applying relevant physics knowledge to revise models, illustrating their difficulties in connecting mathematical representations with actual phenomena.

The purpose of this study was to explore how students interacted with guidance to conduct a scientific inquiry in a physics simulation by using the eye-tracking techniques. The participants were 51 7th graders, and an eye-tracking system was used to record their visual behaviors and log data while they were using the simulation. As for data analysis, we first checked each participant's log data to examine whether they completed the requirement of the guidance, and then checked the correctness of her/his answer to the inquiry task. The participants were thus divided into two groups (correct vs. wrong), and the patterns of their visual behaviors were examined by a set of eye-movement indices, normalized heat maps and lag sequential analyses. The results indicate that both spatial distributions and temporal sequences of the participants' visual attention were associated with their performances on the inquiry task. Regarding the spatial distribution, the correct group tended to allocate more visual attention to the regions presenting the target phenomenon than the wrong group. Concerning the temporal sequence, the correct group tended to make more visual transitions among the content of the guidance, the relevant control panels and the target phenomena than the wrong group.