STUDYING TRANSFER OF SCIENTIFIC REASONING ABILITIES

1
STUDYING TRANSFER OF SCIENTIFIC REASONING
ABILITIES
Eugenia Etkina, Anna Karelina, and Marial Ruibail
Villasenor (Rutgers, The State University of New
Jersey) http//paer.rutgers.edu/scientificabilitie
s/
Step 1 Curriculum Investigative Science
Learning Environment
What do we want students to learn?
Implementation
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Transfer

• Large enrollment class -- 200 students
• The course follows ISLE curriculum
• Lab is an integral part of the course
• Students design their own experiments in labs
  guided by write-ups based on scientific abilities
  and the rubrics
• Students perform experiments in groups and write
  individual reports in a 3-hour lab

• Models of transfer
• Direct Application
• Preparation for Future Learning

1. Devising a hypothesis to explain some
observational facts 2. Designing an
experiment whose outcome can be predicted using
the hypothesis, using if, then reasoning to
predict the outcome of the testing experiment
based on the hypothesis. 3. Carrying out the
experiment and comparing the outcome with the
prediction. 4. Rejecting the hypothesis if
there is a mismatch of the outcome and the
prediction.
In addition to physics content, scientific
abilities
Lab Environment

• Represent information in multiple ways
  diagrams, graphs, tables, verbal, mathematical
• Design and perform experimental investigations
• Design experiment to test a hypothesis
• Make a prediction about the outcome based on the
  hypothesis
• Make a judgment about the hypothesis based on the
  outcome
• Develop scientific reasoning (hypothetico-deductiv
  e)
• Communicate the details of an experimental
  procedure clearly

• What promotes transfer
• Student-centered learning
• Acquisition of deep and meaningful knowledge
• Pattern recognition among cases
• Induction of general schema
• Meta-cognitive reflection

J.M Barry The great influenza The
propelling force from one explanation to another
comes from the methodology A theory must make a
prediction to be useful or scientific
ultimately it must say, If this, then that and
testing that prediction is the single most
important element of modern methodology. Once the
prediction is tested it must advance another one
for testing. It can never stand still (p. 17).
Sample of student work
Sample of student work

• "When testing a relationship, why do we need to
  make a prediction of the outcome of an experiment
  before conducting the experiment? - reflection
  question in a lab
• Imagine that you have an explanation of why
  something happens and we want to assess it
  experimentally and to list the steps of how I
  would do it. This is a true example. 
• I have a cat named Coober who likes to be fed
  precisely at 645 am, almost without fail, except
  on weekends when he waits until my alarm goes off
  at 930 to wake me up. My explanation for why
  this happens for the longest time was that
  because he too liked to sleep in on
  weekends. However, I began to reassess my
  conclusion when one morning I had gotten up to go
  to the bathroom and I heard my appartment mates
  alarm go off at 645 am. Immediately thereafter I
  saw Coober run to my bed only to find I wasnt
  there. To test this new conclusion that it was
  not the time of day that my cat responded to it
  but the sound of the alarm, I randomly started
  setting it off during the day and found, to my
  amusement, it always sent my cat running for my
  bed. So the steps I took were to 1) Establish an
  explanation, 2) Develop a question as to whether
  the explanation is correct, 3) Develop a new
  possible explanation, 4) Try to understand key
  components that would be in play in the
  experiment, 5) Develop and carry out an
  experiment 6) Reevaluate the original explanation
  based on the results.          
•  The reason that this question was asked is basic
  in its roots. Sometimes there are explanations
  out there (like my cat likes to sleep in on
  weekends) that do not make sense and may need
  reevaluation. This question teaches us to not
  take anything for surface value and to not accept
  that hypotheses are any more than just
  hypotheses. Just because it is a hypothesis or
  even a theory does not mean it is correct, so if
  one has doubts one should try to explain it
  another way, and perhaps the new explanation will
  be closer to the truth.

Description of study Far transfer
When studying the populations of the Chesapeake
Bay Blue Crab, Ive noticed the total population
over a span of 5 years has decreased. I formulate
an idea that the population is decreasing due to
overcrabbing by local fishermen. I predict that
by placing regulations on the fishermen to reduce
the crab catch, the population of the Blue Crab
will increase dramatically over next 3 years.
Once the regulations have been in place, weve
noticed that the population of the Blue Crab has
drastically decreased even further. Due to this
outcome, weve concluded that the decrease in
Blue Crab populations is NOT due to overcrabbing
by local fishermen.
Step 2 Tasks Design an experiment to test a
hypothesis

• Exam question during week 5 (experimental group)
  one of 12 exam questions, total of 55 min 5
  min/task
• Task Testing an idea
• Control groups juniors bio majors first year
  Ph.D. students and advanced Ph.D. students, 25
  min/task
• 12 Physics undergraduates - the sample was not
  used in the study

Step3 Formative assessment
Design an experiment to test the following
hypothesis An object always moves in the
direction of the net force exerted on it by other
objects.

• Brainstorm the task. Make a list of possible
  experiments whose outcome you can predict. Decide
  what experiments are best.
• Draw a labeled sketch of the chosen experiment
  and write a description of the procedure.
• Make a prediction about the outcome of the
  experiment based on the hypothesis you are
  testing.
• List assumptions you make.
• Perform the experiment. Record the outcome.
• Based on your prediction and the outcome of your
  experiment, what is your judgment about the
  hypothesis?
• What is the difference between the hypothesis you
  were testing and the prediction?

Write a paragraph describing when in your future
work you might need to test an idea by using it
to predict an outcome of a new experiment. First
choose an idea, then use it to make a prediction
of an outcome of a possible experiment, and then
describe a possible outcome that will rule out
your idea.
Responses of students in control groups

• Why are you asking me this question? I have
  never seen a question like this before.
• Did we discuss questions like this in class? I
  do not remember anything like this.

Last year study (Murthy and Etkina)
Ability to make a reasonable prediction based on
the idea
Ability to identify the idea to be tested

• Same experimental task in lab and exam
• Lab experiment in week 2 in lab (total 11 labs)
• Exam question during week 16
• Task Testing a proposed hypothesis experimentally

Design an experiment to test the proposed
hypothesis An object always moves in the
direction of the net force exerted on it by other
objects. Equipment Dynamics cart and track,
spring scale, bowling ball, tennis ball, mallet,
masking tape, cushion.
Findings Ability to make a prediction
PREDICTION
EXPERIMENT
Based on rule and effects of assumptions
Designed to reject rule
No prediction
16
4
58
Wrote nothing
2
32
48
41
Not based on rule but on knowledge of Newtons
laws
Based on rule (but did not discuss effects of
assumptions)
No attempt to make a prediction is made. The
experiment is not treated as a testing experiment.
No mention is made of an idea
An attempt is made to identify the idea to be
tested, but is described in a confusing manner.
Designed to support rule
A prediction is made but it doesnt follow from
idea being tested, or it ignores or contradicts
some of the assumptions inherent in the idea.
The idea to be tested is described but there are
minor omissions or vague details.
A prediction is made that follows from the idea
and incorporates the assumptions, but it contains
minor errors, inconsistencies, or omissions.
The idea is clearly stated
A correct prediction is made that follows from
the idea and incorporates the assumptions.
N students 181