The Role of Extreme Case Reasoning in Instruction for Conceptual Change

Abstract

Journal of the Learning SciencesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:Although it is common to see extreme case reasoning included in lists of expert heuristics for problem solving, little work has been reported on the role that extreme cases can play in learning that leads to conceptual change. Evidence is presented from video tapes of think-aloud tutoring sessions to document the learning from extreme cases in a unit about levers for seventh graders. The observations support the view that one role of extreme cases is to provide a firm data point or comparison that helps students to establish an ordinal relation between two given variables. Two new additional roles for extreme cases in fostering learning are also identified: (a) their role in activating an intuition, often in the form of a perceptual motor schema, that is used in constructing an imageable, intuitively, grounded, explanatory model as opposed to an empirical rule; and (b) their role in facilitating the formation of new causal variables. Pending confirmation of similar effects in other subject areas, these roles are candidates for being included in a set of general learning strategies for science instruction. This illustrates the function that "learning-aloud studies can play in documenting new types of learning processes and instructional strategies. The study highlights the importance for instructional design of research that uncovers students' existing knowledge structures and natural reasoning processes. The study suggests that explanatory model construction, causal relation construction, and concept formation can result from such instructional designs. The extent to which t!lese three outcomes are evidence for strong conceptual change is also discussed. Requests for reprints should be sent to John Clement, Scientific Reasoning

Development of intuitive rules: Evaluating the application of the dual-system framework to understanding children’s intuitive reasoning

“…Consistent with this, there are examples from studies of intuitive rule use in which the insights gained during tutoring tasks are sudden (e.g., Dembo, Levin, & Siegler, 1997;Zietsman & Clement, 1997). However, there are also examples in which insight occurred gradually (e.g., Siegler & Stern, 1998;Stavy, 1981;Tsamir et al, 1998).…”

Conceptual Metaphor Meets Conceptual Change

“…Moreover, similar assumptions regarding the nature and role of intuitive knowledge in scientific understanding have grounded instructional strategies that strategically trigger intuitive subconceptual elements of knowledge using computer-based visual models [White, 1993[White, , 1995, bridging analogies [Brown & Clement, 1989;Clement, 1982Clement, , 1993, and extreme case reasoning [Zietsman & Clement, 1997].…”

“…A number of researchers of conceptual change have examined how physical objects [Clement, 1993;Zietsman & Clement, 1997] and a series of computer-based visual representations interfacing with manual manipulation of a joystick [White, 1993[White, , 1995 can be strategically selected and designed to trigger learners' application of experiential intuitions in scientific reasoning and problem solving. The intuitions in these cases, however, fall within the same domain of the target concept (e.g., agentive impulses grounding a Newtonian understanding of force).…”

Dipteropeltis – a hundred years later

“…In die literatuur oor konseptuele verandering in die opvoedkunde word daar reeds vanaf die ontstaan van hierdie studierigting, veral wetenskaponderrig in die 1980's (Posner et al 1982;Brown & Clement 1989;Zietsman & Clement 1997;Vosniadou 2008), aandag gegee aan 'n meer konstruktiwistiese siening van leer en kognisie. Die meeste skrywers onderskei tussen geringe en radikale konseptuele verandering.…”