Academically low-performing urban sixth graders engaged in inquiry activity received a suggestion that they focus their investigation on the role of a single factor. This suggestion had significant effects on their use of a superficially dissimilar strategy—controlling the variation of other factors. This latter strategy has received the lion's share of attention in research on the development of scientific reasoning. These results have implications, we propose, for what undergoes development with respect to scientific thinking and how this development can best be facilitated.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonJ.R.GreenoJ.G.RederL.M.SimonH.A. (2000). Perspectives on learning, thinking, and activity. Educational Researcher, 29(4), 11–13.
2.
ChinnC.A.MalhotraB.A. (2002). Epistemologically authentic inquiry in schools: A theoretical framework for evaluating inquiry tasks. Science Education, 86, 175–218.
3.
InhelderB.PiagetJ. (1958). The growth of logical thinking from childhood to adolescence. New York: Basic Books.
4.
KeselmanA. (2003). Supporting inquiry learning by promoting normative understanding of multivariable causality. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 40, 898–921.
5.
KlahrD.NigamM. (2004). The equivalence of learning paths in early science instruction: Effects of direct instruction and discovery learning. Psychological Science, 15, 661–667.
6.
KuhnD. (1995). Microgenetic study of change: What has it told us?Psychological Science, 6, 133–139.
7.
KuhnD. (2001a). How do people know?Psychological Science, 12, 1–8.
8.
KuhnD. (2001b). Why development does (and doesn't) occur: Evidence from the domain of inductive reasoning. InSieglerR.S.McClellandJ.(Eds.), Mechanism of cognitive development: Neural and behavioral perspectives (pp.221–249). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
9.
KuhnD. (2002). What is scientific thinking and how does it develop?InGoswamiU.(Ed.), Blackwell handbook of childhood cognitive development (pp.371–393). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
10.
KuhnD. (2005). Education for thinking. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
11.
KuhnD.BlackJ.KeselmanA.KaplanD. (2000). The development of cognitive skills to support inquiry learning. Cognition and Instruction, 18, 495–523.
12.
KuhnD.DeanD., Jr. (2005). Scaffolding the development of inquiry skills in academically at-risk populations. Unpublished manuscript, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.
13.
KuhnD.FranklinS.(in press).The second decade: What develops (and how)?InDamonW.LernerR.(Series Eds.) & D. Kuhn & R.S. Siegler (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, perception, and language (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
14.
KuhnD.García-MilaM.ZoharA.AndersenC. (1995). Strategies of knowledge acquisition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 60(4, Serial No. 245).
15.
KuhnD.PeaseM.(in press). Do children and adults learn differently?Journal of Cognition and Development.
16.
KuhnD.SchaubleL.García-MilaM. (1992). Cross-domain development of scientific reasoning. Cognition and Instruction, 9, 285–327.
17.
LehrerR.SchaubleL.PetrosinoA.J. (2001). Reconsidering the role of experiment in science education. InCrowleyK.SchunnC.OkadaT.(Eds.), Designing for science: Implications from everyday, classroom, and professional settings (pp.251–277). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
18.
National Research Council. (1996). National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
19.
SchaubleL. (1990). Belief revision in children: The role of prior knowledge and strategies for generating evidence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 49, 31–57.
20.
SchaubleL. (1996). The development of scientific reasoning in knowledge-rich contexts. Developmental Psychology, 32, 102–119.
21.
ShragerJ.SieglerR.S. (1998). SCADS: A model of children's strategy choices and strategy discoveries. Psychological Science, 9, 405–410.
22.
SieglerR.S.(in press).Microgenetic analyses of learning. InDamonW.LernerR.(Series Eds.) & D. Kuhn & R.S. Siegler (Vol. Eds.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol. 2. Cognition, perception, and language (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
23.
SieglerR.S.CrowleyK. (1991). The microgenetic method: A direct means for studying cognitive development. American Psychologist, 46, 606–620.
24.
ZimmermanC. (2000). The development of scientific reasoning skills. Developmental Review, 20, 99–149.
