Individual differences in college‐age learners: The importance of relational reasoning for learning and assessment in higher education

Abstract

Background The term individual differences refers to the physical, behavioral, cognitive, social, and emotional attributes that make each human unique. Late adolescence to young adulthood represents a time of significant neurobiological and cognitive transformations that contribute further to human variability. Those transformations include an increase in the white matter of the brain accompanied by an increased capacity for higher‐order thinking, reasoning, decision‐making, and selfcontrol. These capacities fall under the category of executive functions. Aim The purpose of this article is to overview one particular executive function, relational reasoning; to consider its significance to college students’ learning and performance; and to argue for its inclusion in assessment programs within higher education. Research summary Relational reasoning can be defined as the ability to discern meaningful patterns within any informational stream. Through an orchestrated program of research, four forms of relational reasoning have been identified that reflect perceived similarities (analogical), discrepancies (anomalous), contradictions (antinomous), and contrasts (antithetical). These four forms have been documented in studies of doctors diagnosing cases, science and mathematics teachers providing instruction, and engineering students designing new products. These manifestations have also formed the structure of formal measures of relational reasoning that have been shown to be psychometrically sound indicators of this executive function. Conclusions and implications This article closes with an argument for the inclusion of relational reasoning in performance assessments designed for higher education. Consistent with views of competence as a continuum, it is argued that this inclusion should encompass the measurement of relational reasoning both as an underlying general competence and as a component of domain‐specific performance.

The impact of the SMART program on cognitive and academic skills: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…The proposal that relational reasoning is a core feature of cognition is consistent with recent findings from within cognitive psychology (Goldwater et al, 2018), linguistics (Everaert et al, 2015;Goldwater, 2017) and education (Alexander, 2019;Goldwater & Schalk, 2016). Alexander (2019) outlined four categories of relational reasoning that appear key in approaching common tasks and tests in educational settings (analogy, anomaly, antimony and antithesis). In mathematics, Farrington-Flint et al (2007) found that tests of relational reasoning correlated with young children's mathematics ability; the authors reported that changes from domain-specific to domain-general relational reasoning ability predicted success in solving addition problems.…”

“…The proposal that relational reasoning is a core feature of cognition is consistent with recent findings from within cognitive psychology (Goldwater et al, 2018), linguistics (Everaert et al, 2015; Goldwater, 2017) and education (Alexander, 2019; Goldwater & Schalk, 2016). Alexander (2019) outlined four categories of relational reasoning that appear key in approaching common tasks and tests in educational settings (analogy, anomaly, antimony and antithesis). In mathematics, Farrington‐Flint et al.…”

Non-verbal IQ Gains from Relational Operant Training Explain Variance in Educational Attainment: An Active-Controlled Feasibility Study

“…Therefore, they can also be trained by manipulating the environment (see Kishita, Ohtsuki, and Stewart (2013); McLoughlin and Stewart (2017); Moran, Walsh, Stewart, McElwee, and Ming (2015)). Not only can relational operants be trained, but they are strongly associated with IQ (Colbert et al, 2017), and this is congruent with converging consensus from the fields of neuroscience (Davis et al, 2017), linguistics (Everaert et al, 2015;Goldwater, 2017), evolutionary biology (Wilson & Hayes, 2018), and cognitive psychology (Alexander, 2019;Goldwater, Don, Krusche, & Livesey, 2018;Goldwater & Schalk, 2016;Halford, Wilson, & Phillips, 2010;Kaufman, DeYoung, Gray, Brown, & Mackintosh, 2009) that relational reasoning is central to cognition.…”

¿Pueden los adolescentes tomar mejores decisiones? La respuesta de la Física

“…Relational reasoning is highly recommended in the study of Science, Maths and Engineering (Alexander, 2019), as a powerful tool to improve students' learning and performance. The brain makes a first impression of Nature.…”