Final answer:
Teachers should guide students as they construct mental models during the process of application in various contexts, especially when students are actively problem-solving. This guidance can be critical for developmental stages from childhood to adolescence, tailored to cater to their expanding cognitive skills and capacity for abstract thought.
Step-by-step explanation:
The best time for teachers to guide students' thinking, as they construct a mental model, is during the process of understanding by applying what they have learned in different contexts. Teachers should encourage students to engage in out-of-the-box thinking and to reason about concepts, which helps in pushing them towards new and creative ways of understanding. It's crucial for educators to interject with guidance and support when students are actively engaged in problem-solving and critical thinking.
For younger children, forming mental models occurs as they begin to organize information, make generalizations, and determine essential relationships. This development allows them to form the logical and mathematical frameworks of thought. Cognitive skills continue to expand into adolescence where teenagers become capable of more abstract reasoning and problem solving. An understanding of the stages of cognitive development is key to identifying the optimal moments for teacher intervention.
Thus, a teacher should monitor students' progress and step in with the appropriate scaffolding techniques that might include posing thought-provoking questions, providing examples, or using visual aids to enhance the learning experience and solidify understanding.