Epistemological resources for thought experimentation in science learning

Thought Experiments (TEs) are reasoning processes that are based on 'results' of an experiment carried out in thought. What is the validity of an experiment- that has not been actually executed- for knowledge about the physical world? What are the features that make it distinctive and how do we integrate it into learning environments to support such thought processes? This study suggests that a thought experiment draws on three epistemological resources: conceptual-logical inferences, visual imagery and bodily-motor experience. We start by stating how students' TEs are related to recent research on learning science and then proceed to describe the nature of TEs. The central part of the paper deals with cognitive theories and empirical examples of visual imagery and bodily imagery. It also deals with how these enable implicit knowledge about the world to be retrieved. Students may have, but are not aware of, such knowledge for it is hidden when learning is only based on formal representations. We show that imagination is structured, goal-oriented, based on prior experiential imagery and internally coherent. Students can, for example, mentally rotate objects at constant velocity. Students can 'zoom in and out' to inspect imaginary situations, transfer objects, predict paths of imaginary moving objects and imagine the impact of forces on mechanical systems. We show that the TEs are powerful because of these capabilities. We further claim that these are not exploited by school learning environments and offer a first step towards understanding imagery in science learning.

[1]  Roger N. Shepard,et al.  Visual functions of mental imagery , 1986 .

[2]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects , 1971, Science.

[3]  Miriam Reiner,et al.  Thought experiments in science education: potential and current realization , 2000 .

[4]  L. Cooper.  Demonstration of a mental analog of an external rotation , 1976 .

[5]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The essential tension : selected studies in scientific tradition and change , 1977 .

[6]  F. Reif,et al.  Acquiring an Effective Understanding of Scientific Concepts. , 1983 .

[7]  Robert J Glushko,et al.  Spatial comprehension and comparison processes in verification tasks , 1978, Cognitive Psychology.

[8]  T. Kuhn,et al.  The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. , 1964 .

[9]  Mark L. Johnson.  The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason , 1989 .

[10]  F. Allard.  Chapter 2 Cognition, Expertise, and Motor Performance , 1993 .

[11]  M. Polanyi.  Chapter 7 – The Tacit Dimension , 1997 .

[12]  Zenon W. Pylyshyn,et al.  What the Mind’s Eye Tells the Mind’s Brain: A Critique of Mental Imagery , 1973 .

[13]  Martha J. Farah,et al.  Electrophysiological evidence for a shared representational medium for visual images and visual percepts. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[14]  Ernst Mach,et al.  The Science of Mechanics. , 1894 .

[15]  J. Dancy.  The Role of Imaginary Cases in Ethics , 2021, Practical Thought.

[16]  E. Langer.  Rethinking the Role of Thought in Social Interaction , 2018, New Directions in Attribution Research.

[17]  M. Just,et al.  Constructing mental models of machines from text and diagrams. , 1993 .

[18]  David C. Gooding,et al.  What is Experimental about Thought Experiments? , 1992, PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association.

[19]  Wolff-Michael Roth,et al.  Authentic School Science , 1995 .

[20]  David Freedman.  Real People: Personal Identity without Thought Experiments , 1989 .

[21]  Z. Dagher.  Analysis of analogies used by science teachers , 1995 .

[22]  Miriam Reiner,et al.  Thought experiments and collaborative learning in physics , 1998 .

[23]  S. Palmer.  Hierarchical structure in perceptual representation , 1977, Cognitive Psychology.

[24]  Kathleen V. Wilkes,et al.  Real People: Personal Identity without Thought Experiments , 1988 .

[25]  Sara Hennessy,et al.  Situated Cognition and Cognitive Apprenticeship: Implications for Classroom Learning , 1993 .

[26]  T. B. Ward,et al.  Analytic and holistic modes of learning family-resemblance concepts , 1987, Memory & cognition.

[27]  W. Bean.  Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy , 1961 .

[28]  Janet L. Starkes,et al.  Cognitive issues in motor expertise , 1993 .

[29]  M J Farah,et al.  Electrophysiological evidence for a shared representational medium for visual images and visual percepts. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[30]  D. Gentner.  Mental Models , 1983 .

[31]  A. diSessa.  Toward an Epistemology of Physics , 1993 .

[32]  L. Resnick.  Constructing knowledge in school. , 1987 .

[33]  James Robert Brown,et al.  Thought experiments since the scientific revolution , 1986 .

[34]  R. Driver,et al.  The Pupil as Scientist , 1983 .

[35]  A. Reber.  Implicit learning and tacit knowledge , 1993 .

[36]  R. Klatzky,et al.  Studies of visual synthesis: integration of fragments into forms. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[37]  R. Shepard,et al.  Mental Images and Their Transformations , 1982 .

[38]  Arthur S. Reber,et al.  Cognition Unawares. (Book Reviews: Implicit Learning and Tacit Knowledge. An Essay on the Cognitive Unconscious.) , 1996 .

[39]  M. Polanyi.  Personal Knowledge: Towards a post-critical philosophy , 1959 .

[40]  S M Kosslyn,et al.  Visual images preserve metric spatial information: evidence from studies of image scanning. , 1978, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.

[41]  Mariana G. Hewson,et al.  The role of conceptual conflict in conceptual change and the design of science instruction , 1984 .

[42]  Z. Pylyshyn.  The imagery debate: Analogue media versus tacit knowledge. , 1981 .

[43]  M N Wise.  The mutual embrace of electricity and magnetism. , 1979, Science.

[44]  R. Finke,et al.  Principles of mental imagery , 1989 .

[45]  D. Metzler,et al.  Mental rotation: effects of dimensionality of objects and type of task. , 1988, Journal of experimental psychology. Human perception and performance.