Cultivating a Theoretical Turn-of-Mind

• In Event: 61.050 - Constructivist Learning Environments and Participants' Reasoning

Abstract

Theory building is central to science. Students should be trained in how to approach it and immersed in activities that cultivate a theoretical turn-of-mind. I present a theory-building curriculum for the middle school science classroom that was designed to support students’ development of theories of patterns, including threshold and equilibration. Findings suggest student participants improved the products of their theory building along four dimensions: 1) alignment with scientific conceptualizations, 2) deeper structure, 3) explanatory power, and 4) abstractness. Research has previously investigated students’ engagement in the construction of theoretical artifacts. What is novel, here, is the analysis of student artifacts as theoretical entities and the suggestion that engagement in theory building activities can cultivate a theoretical turn-of-mind.

Author

• Hillary Lucille Swanson, Northwestern University