The Transfer of Scientific Principles Using Concrete and Idealized Simulations

Abstract

Participants in 2 experiments interacted with computer simulations designed to foster understanding of scientific principles governing complex adaptive systems. The quality of participants' transportable understanding was measured by the amount of transfer between 2 simulations governed by the same principle. The perceptual concreteness of the elements within the first simulation was manipulated. The elements either remained concrete throughout the simulation, remained idealized, or switched midway into the simulation from concrete to idealized or vice versa. Transfer was better when the appearance of the elements switched, consistent with theories predicting more general schemas when the schemas are multiply instantiated. The best transfer was observed when originally concrete elements became idealized. These results are interpreted in terms of tradeoffs between grounded, concrete construals of simulations and more abstract, transportable construals. Progressive idealization ("concreteness fading") allows originally grounded and interpretable principles to become less tied to specific contexts and hence more transferable.Cognitive psychologists and educators have often debated the merits of concrete versus idealized materials for fostering scientific understanding. Should chemical molecules be represented by detailed, shaded, and realistically illuminated balls or by simple ball-and-stick figures? Should a medical illustration of a pancreas include a meticulous rendering of the islets of Langerhans or convey in a more stylized manner the organ's general form? Our informal interviews with mycologists at the Royal Kew Gardens (personal communication, Brian Spooner and David Pegler, May 1998) indicate a schism between authors of mushroom field guides.

Detecting anomalous features in complex stimuli: The role of structured comparison.

“…Developmental evidence suggests that comparison may act to alter representations during category learning by highlighting structural commonalities and differences (Christie & Gentner, 2010;Gentner & Medina, 1998;Kotovsky & Gentner, 1996). Paired presentation of examples has been shown to facilitate learning of novel perceptual relational categories in adults (Goldstone & Son, 2005;). This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.…”

Instruction in Computer Modeling Can Support Broad Application of Complex Systems Knowledge

“…A brief 1-week intervention which targeted NetLogo programming and modeling skills boosted students' scores on a CSCI, even though the training intervention covered models in different domains than those tested. Whereas prior interactions with agent-based models have sometimes resulted in situated learning [Day et al, 2010;Day and Goldstone, 2011;but see Wilensky (1996) and Goldstone and Son (2005)], the current intervention based on computational modeling produced broadly applied knowledge of the core concepts of complex systems. In fact, both interventions produced medium to large sized improvements (Cohen, 1988) in students' learning that lasted across multiple days.…”

“…For example, students who learned about "competitive specialization" in a situation involving abstract ants and food transferred that knowledge to a situation involving neurons learning to differentially respond to patterns (Goldstone and Son, 2005). Similarly, student participation in classroom simulations involving complex systems has shown some ability to create transferrable knowledge .…”

“…Similarly, student participation in classroom simulations involving complex systems has shown some ability to create transferrable knowledge . When learners view events as manifestations of general principles, this learning prepares them to see future events in terms of the same basic principles and they can apply their knowledge to the new events (Goldstone and Sakamoto, 2003;Goldstone and Son, 2005). Further, providing multiple, different cases of the same principle can allow learners to identify the deep principles involved, view the events as manifestations of general principles (Bransford and Schwartz, 1999), and mentally discard the superficial characteristics Holyoak, 1980, 1983;Gentner, 2005).…”

“…For example, variations in elements' appearances can be eliminated in order to focus attention on the interactions among the agents, rather than absolute properties of the agents themselves (Goldstone and Son, 2005). The agent-to-agent interactions can be made visually salient, while the distracting, superficial details can be downplayed.…”