The Role of Mechanistic Explanations in Learning about Science and Technology

机械解释在学习科学技术中的作用

• 批准号: 1561143
• 负责人: Frank Keil
• 金额: $ 232.99万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-06-01 至 2022-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1561143&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Role; Mechanistic; Explanations; Learning; about

This project, led by a team of researchers from Yale University, will focus on the role of causal mechanistic explanations in children's and adults' learning of STEM content and will examine the relations to engagement with science education. Learning the specific mechanistic details of natural phenomena and devices is often envisioned as an ideal goal of STEM learning, yet such information is typically forgotten soon after instruction by children, as well as by adults. The researchers will pursue the hypothesis that such mechanisms should still be taught because, after the specific details have been forgotten, what remains promotes enduring representations and facilitates higher order learning. This alternative view emphasizes learning that much more closely mirrors how informal science (and often formal science as well) actually works. This project will build on recent cognitive science discoveries about the kinds of knowledge that are most robustly represented both in folk science and in formal science. Four sets of experiments will explore developmental changes in preferences for mechanistic explanations, what is retained from exposure, the effects of different learning goals on the use of mechanistic information in learning STEM content, and the development of abilities to infer internal mechanistic structures. If the hypothesis is supported, the results will suggest that exposure to causal mechanistic information is essential to early science education and that such content should not be omitted even though its details are forgotten. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research program, which supports fundamental research that advances the research literature on STEM learning, and has implications for education in both formal and informal settings. This project will involve four sets of randomized controlled experiments, primarily with children at grades K, 2, and 4. Study Set 1 will explore the cognitive basis and development of children's preference for explanations that involve a causal mechanism. The researchers will use a choice paradigm that contrasts mechanistic explanations with other forms of information. Children will be asked which explanation they would like to learn more about for a given object. Strong preferences for mechanistic information are predicted at all ages, but with developmental differences relating to overall complexity, the domains queried, and kinds of mechanism involved. Study Set 2 will present children with mechanistic explanations for devices and biological entities. Children will then be assessed for retention of mechanistic details, functional properties, non-mechanistic details, judged complexity, broad causal patterns such as causal centrality and potency, and which of two experts to consult to learn more about the entity. These children will be compared to control children who will also learn about the same internal parts but with no causal or functional language that reveals mechanism. Rapid decay of detailed mechanistic information is expected in both groups, but the mechanism group should show more enduring memories for information relating to complexity, centrality, and expertise domains. Study Set 3 will focus on goal framing. The researchers will first look at children's and adults' intuitions about what is retained after exposure to causal mechanistic explanations, expecting a strong explicit bias favoring retention of vivid details and a neglect of what actually endures and is most often used. Later studies will ask how different learning goals interact with mechanism instruction. Greater enjoyment, engagement, feelings of accomplishment and retention of information are predicted with learning goals stressing more cognitively feasible and useful outcomes. Study Set 4 will focus on complexity intuitions. The investigators will look at how internal complexity is inferred for devices and animals based on behavioral diversity. They will also explore how mechanistic complexity is instantiated in different domains.

该项目由耶鲁大学的一组研究人员领导，将重点关注因果机制解释在儿童和成人学习STEM内容中的作用，并将研究与科学教育的关系。学习自然现象和设备的具体机械细节通常被视为STEM学习的理想目标，但这些信息通常在儿童和成人的指导后很快就会被遗忘。 研究人员将继续研究这样一个假设，即这种机制仍然应该被教授，因为在具体细节被遗忘之后，剩下的东西会促进持久的表征并促进更高阶的学习。这种替代观点强调学习更密切地反映了非正式科学（通常也包括正式科学）的实际运作方式。这个项目将建立在最近的认知科学发现的各种知识，最有力的民间科学和正式的科学代表。四组实验将探讨对机械解释偏好的发展变化，从暴露中保留的内容，不同学习目标对学习STEM内容中使用机械信息的影响，以及推断内部机械结构的能力的发展。如果这一假设得到支持，结果将表明，接触因果机械信息是必不可少的早期科学教育，这样的内容不应该被省略，即使它的细节被遗忘。该项目由EHR核心研究计划资助，该计划支持基础研究，促进STEM学习的研究文献，并对正式和非正式环境中的教育产生影响。该项目将涉及四组随机对照实验，主要针对K，2和4年级的儿童。研究集1将探讨儿童对涉及因果机制的解释的偏好的认知基础和发展。 研究人员将使用一种选择范式，将机械解释与其他形式的信息进行对比。孩子们会被问到他们想对给定的物体了解更多的解释。强烈的偏好，机械信息的预测在所有年龄段，但与发展的差异有关的整体复杂性，查询的领域，和各种机制。研究集2将向儿童提供器械和生物实体的机械解释。然后，将评估儿童对机械细节、功能特性、非机械细节、判断的复杂性、广泛的因果模式（例如因果中心性和效力）的保留，以及咨询两位专家中的哪一位以了解有关实体的更多信息。 这些孩子将与对照组的孩子进行比较，对照组的孩子也将学习相同的内部部分，但没有揭示机制的因果或功能语言。详细的机械信息的快速衰减，预计在这两个群体中，但机制组应该表现出更持久的记忆的信息有关的复杂性，中心性，和专业领域。 研究集3将侧重于目标制定。研究人员将首先研究儿童和成人对暴露于因果机械解释后保留的内容的直觉，预计会产生强烈的明确偏见，有利于保留生动的细节，而忽视实际上持久和最常用的内容。 以后的研究将探讨不同的学习目标如何与机制教学相互作用。更大的享受，参与，成就感和保留信息的预测与学习目标强调更认知可行和有用的结果。研究集4将专注于复杂性直觉。研究人员将研究如何根据行为多样性推断设备和动物的内部复杂性。他们还将探索机械复杂性如何在不同领域中实例化。