Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students

Description

How do scientists use analogies and other processes to break away from old theories and generate new ones? This book documents such methods through the analysis of video tapes of scientifically trained experts thinking aloud while working on unfamiliar problems. Some aspects of creative scientific thinking are difficult to explain, such as the power of analogies, the use of physical intuition, and the enigmatic ability to learn from thought experiments. The book examines the hypothesis that these processes are based on imagistic mental simulation as an underlying mechanism. This allows the analysis of insight ("Aha!") episodes of creative theory formation. Advanced processes examined include specialized conserving transformations, Gedanken experiments, and adjusted levels of divergence in thinking. Student interviews are used to show that students have natural abilities for many of the basic reasoning and model construction processes and that this has important implications for expanding instructional theories of conceptual change and inquiry. "I regard this work as the most comprehensive account ever attempted to show how imagistic, analogic, and sensory-motor representations participate in creative thinking." Professor Ryan Tweney, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, USA Front Matter....Pages i-xxvii Introduction: A “Hidden World” of Nonformal Expert Reasoning....Pages 1-16 Major Processes Involved in Spontaneous Analogical Reasoning....Pages 21-32 Methods Experts Use to Generate Analogies....Pages 33-45 Methods Experts Use to Evaluate an Analogy Relation....Pages 47-56 Expert Methods for Developing an Understanding of the Analogous Case and Applying Findings....Pages 57-64 Case Study of Model Construction and Criticism in Expert Reasoning*....Pages 67-96 Creativity and Scientific Insight in the Case Study for S2....Pages 97-115 Spontaneous Analogies Generated by Students Solving Science Problems....Pages 119-125 Case Study of a Student Who Counters and Improves His Own Misconception by Generating a Chain of Analogies....Pages 127-137 Using Analogies and Models in Instruction to Deal with Students' Preconceptions*....Pages 139-155 Analogy, Extreme Cases, and Spatial Transformations in Mathematical Problem Solving by Experts....Pages 161-170 Depictive Gestures and Other Case Study Evidence for Use of Imagery by Experts and Students....Pages 171-204 Physical Intuition, Imagistic Simulation, and Implicit Knowledge....Pages 205-234 The Use of Analogies, Imagery, and Thought Experiments in Both Qualitative and Mathematical Model Construction....Pages 237-275 Thought Experiments and Imagistic Simulation in Plausible Reasoning....Pages 277-323 A Punctuated Evolution Model of Investigation and Model Construction Processes....Pages 325-382 Imagistic Processes in Analogical Reasoning: Transformations and Dual Simulations....Pages 383-407 How Grounding in Runnable Schemas Contributes to Producing Flexible Scientific Models in Experts and Students....Pages 409-430 Summary of Findings on Plausible Reasoning and Learning in Experts I: Basic Findings....Pages 433-455 Summary of Findings on Plausible Reasoning and Learning in Experts II: Advanced Topics....Pages 457-506 Creativity in Experts, Nonformal Reasoning, and Educational Applications....Pages 507-574 Back Matter....Pages 575-601