An agentive focus may limit learning about complex causality and systems dynamics: A study of seventh graders' explanations of ecosystems

Abstract

Agent-oriented pedagogies have been used in teaching concepts related to complex systems dynamics. However, little research has systematically explored the role of a strong agency-oriented focus on understanding of complex, dynamic ecological systems. This study analyzed seventh graders' (n = 216) explanations of a complex ecological scenario. The findings show that students were more likely to generate agentive than nonagentive explanations and students who adopted an agentive framing were least likely to understand the complex causal dynamics of two environmental scenarios, eutrophication in a pond and acid rain in a forest. Furthermore, students' initial inclination toward agency-oriented explanation on the assessment was predictive of their performance on a postassessment following an instructional opportunity to learn about ecosystems dynamics; a strong agency orientation corresponded to less complex interpretations of the dynamics of the ecosystems. The results suggest that a strongly agentive perspective may limit students' ability to learn complex systems dynamics and that the pedagogical advantages of agent-based approaches may not be without limitations.

Multidimensional trajectories for understanding ecosystems

“…Causality can be especially difficult for learners when thinking about how smaller system elements interact to result in multiple system outcomes (Grotzer et al 2012). Furthermore, thinking about causal complexity may be limited by a greater focus on agent‐based approaches, as such a focus can inadvertently emphasize the idea that forces in a system have intent and purpose to produce a certain outcome, leading to oversimplified interpretations of causality (Cuzzolino et al, 2019). Nonetheless, agent‐based approaches have also resulted in improved reasoning about systems (e.g., Hmelo‐Silver et al, 2015; Rates et al, 2016).…”

Beliefs about Human-Nature Relationships and Implications for Investment and Stewardship surrounding Land-Water System Conservation

“…Cognitive research demonstrates that humans possess powerful intuitive frameworks that provide efficient, but often fallible, guidelines for dealing with complex scientific concepts (e.g., [18][19][20][21]) such as land-water systems (e.g., [22]). Of particular relevance for conceptualizing social-ecological systems are the intuitive ways that people conceptualize the relationship between humans and the environment [12].…”

One Instructional Sequence Fits all? A Conceptual Analysis of the Applicability of Concreteness Fading in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology Education

“…In the framework of structure-mapping theory (Gentner 2010), the agentive framing elicited by the concrete simulations supports inference projection to a more idealized simulation. However, even though agent-based approaches have been shown to support students' causal reasoning, the effect may be strongly dependent on the context in which the approaches are used (Cuzzolino et al 2019). The concrete simulations with ants arguably evoke relevant and useful prior knowledge, but more research is needed to determine whether and, if so, which sequences of representations provide such benefits in other contexts.…”

“…In the vocabulary of the DeFT framework, different simulations may constrain the interpretation of successive examples (including in unintended ways) and hence it will be necessary to determine which kinds of representations students acquire when interacting with agent-based models. For instance, Cuzzolino et al (2019) suggest that abstraction via contrasting cases that align or do not align with agentive bias may support students in acquiring knowledge about instances of complex systems that are more diverse. Despite these exciting directions for future research, it should be clear that external representations used in biology (like those used in physics and chemistry) do not map well onto concreteness fading sequences as they have been investigated in mathematics and that learners need to learn and understand all individual representations and their (complex) interrelations.…”