There are some differences, however. Modeling is explicitly a way to train students in scientific thinking and approach to problems. The “models” they are coming up with are quite a bit broad — eg., a mathematical and physical formulation of an understanding of an Atwood Machine — supported by data and applied to different situations. Schwartz’s Invention Activities are a bit more targeted to key concepts, such as “density” or or “variance” or “vectors.” It’s a way to get students to think about a situation and (like modeling) recognize the key elements that go into creating a definition, before the expert comes and gives the common way to approach that term. His activities tend to be very visual.

So, in a way, invention activities are helping students wrestle with the key terms that would go into creating a model in Modeling Physics. They’re smaller, more fundamental chunks than are dealt with in Modeling, and less tied to phenomena.

Here’s a nice summary from the website that Frank included:
http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/mod_cycle.html

http://modeling.asu.edu/