Seeing the Forest From the Trees: A Comparison of Two Instructional Models Using Contrasting Cases

• In Event: Science Instructional Interventions: Influences on Science Content and Scientific Thinking

Abstract

6th grade students learned about horizontal projectile motion through Compare and Contrast (CC) instruction or Invention (INV) activities using identical contrasting cases generated by a Physics Education Technology (PhET) computer simulation. Results showed that the INV treatment led to superior learning outcomes over the CC condition. Worksheet analyses revealed that CC students mainly focused on single factor features, whereas the inventing directive led students to focus on finding an overall explanation. As a result, the INV students were more likely to give deeper structure accounts of the features that could explain all the contrasting cases; they found the forest from the trees.

Authors

• Min Chi, Stanford University

• Ilsa Dohmen

• Jonathan Todd Shemwell, University of Maine

• Doris B. Chin, Stanford University

• Catherine C. Chase, Carnegie Mellon University

• Daniel L. Schwartz, Stanford University