A Case of Changing Explanations From Centralized Causality to Decentralized Causality

• In Event: Poster Session 18
  In Poster Session: Gestures, Models, and Explanations in STEM Learning

Abstract

In this paper I present a case study of one student generating a series of explanations about how complex emergent systems work. This addresses a gap in how students actually can progress in understanding emergence. I show how one student’s explanations changed from a focus on centralized causality, which is associated with a common misconception, to having a focus on decentralized causality, which is associated with a relatively sophisticated understanding. In this case, his use of analogies and counter-evidence was noticed as his explanations shifted.

Author

• Lauren April Barth-Cohen, University of Maine