The purpose of this project is to come to a more explicit understanding of what good scientific reasoning looks like, what sorts of knowledge and abilities contribute to it, how teachers can help students develop that knowledge, and what aspects of early scientific reasoning we can identify as the seeds of later sophistication. Prior research suggests that young children have a variety of intellectual resources for understanding science: they have extensive knowledge about physical causes and effects, at least concerning objects and phenomena they encounter every day; they have a variety of abilities for working with and adding to that knowledge; and most have skills for defending a position with reasons and evidence. Prior research also suggests that science teaching does not generally help children refine their everyday thinking.
The project will include four types of studies: 1) Detailed case studies of K-16 students' reasoning in physical science and physics, recorded on videotape and transcribed for line-by-line analysis; 2) the construction of computational models that try to reproduce aspects of students' reasoning; 3) the development of a theoretical framework for understanding the progression from childhood abilities to the expertise of a college major; and 4) applying that framework to generate and explore hypotheses for what instructional actions might promote good scientific reasoning and understanding.
