When is a molecule three dimensional? A task-specific role for imagistic reasoning in advanced chemistry†

Imagistic reasoning appears to be a critical strategy for learning and problem solving in the sciences, particularly chemistry; however, little is known about how students use imagistic reasoning on genuine assessment tasks in chemistry. The present study employed a think-aloud protocol to explore when and how students use imagistic reasoning for problem solving in organic chemistry. The analysis suggests that students employ imagistic reasoning preferentially for translating between various molecular representations. On more complex tasks typical of classroom assessments, the students' problem solving appears mostly dependent on the accuracy of self-generated inscriptions rather than the use of imagistic reasoning. The results indicate a variable interplay between imagistic reasoning and diagrammatic reasoning that suggests several pedagogical implications for teaching college chemistry. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed95:310–336, 2011

[1]  S. Brownlow,et al.  Science Background and Spatial Abilities in Men and Women , 2003 .

[2]  K. A. Ericsson,et al.  Verbal reports as data. , 1980 .

[3]  Kevin Crowley,et al.  The microgenetic method. A direct means for studying cognitive development. , 1991, The American psychologist.

[4]  GEORGE M. BODNER,et al.  The Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test , 1997 .

[5]  Joseph Krajcik,et al.  Promoting understanding of chemical representations: Students' use of a visualization tool in the classroom , 2001 .

[6]  M. Chi.  Quantifying Qualitative Analyses of Verbal Data: A Practical Guide , 1997 .

[7]  Mike Stieff,et al.  Spatial Cognition & Computation: An Interdisciplinary Journal , 2022 .

[8]  T. Mueller.  Learning to Think Spatially , 2006 .

[9]  Patrick Olivier,et al.  Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning , 2001 .

[10]  M. Hegarty.  Mechanical reasoning by mental simulation , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[11]  M. Hegarty.  Mental animation: inferring motion from static displays of mechanical systems. , 1992, Journal of experimental psychology. Learning, memory, and cognition.

[12]  Daniel L. Schwartz,et al.  Shuttling Between Depictive Models and Abstract Rules: Induction and Fallback , 1996, Cogn. Sci..

[13]  A. Ahlgren,et al.  Science for all Americans , 1990 .

[14]  J. Clement.  Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students: The Role of Imagery, Analogy, and Mental Simulation , 2008 .

[15]  M. Y. Small,et al.  Research in College Science Teaching: Spatial Visualization Training Improves Performance in Organic Chemistry. , 1983 .

[16]  Yael Kali,et al.  Spatial abilities of high‐school students in the perception of geologic structures , 1996 .

[17]  A. Strauss,et al.  Grounded theory methodology: An overview. , 1994 .

[18]  Susan Bell Trickett,et al.  The Relationship Between Spatial Transformations and Iconic Gestures , 2006, Spatial Cogn. Comput..

[19]  Seyhan N. Eğe,et al.  Organic Chemistry: Structure and Reactivity , 1998 .

[20]  Peter A. Rubba,et al.  Translation of representations of the structure of matter and its relationship to reasoning, gender, spatial reasoning, and specific prior knowledge , 1993 .

[21]  M. Stieff.  A localized model of spatial cognition in chemistry , 2004 .

[22]  Susan Bell Trickett,et al.  Connecting Internal and External Representations: Spatial Transformations of Scientific Visualizations , 2005 .

[23]  Mike Stieff,et al.  Alternative Strategies for Spatial Reasoning with Diagrams , 2010, Diagrams.

[24]  M. Stieff.  Mental rotation and diagrammatic reasoning in science , 2007 .

[25]  Yehudit Judy Dori,et al.  High-School Chemistry Students' Performance and Gender Differences in a Computerized Molecular Modeling Learning Environment , 1999 .

[26]  Timothy P. McNamara,et al.  How Are the Locations of Objects in the Environment Represented in Memory? , 2003, Spatial Cognition.

[27]  C. L. Habraken.  Perceptions of chemistry: Why is the common perception of chemistry, the most visual of sciences, so distorted? , 1996 .

[28]  John K. Gilbert,et al.  Visualization in science education , 2005 .

[29]  Herbert A. Simon,et al.  Why a Diagram is (Sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words , 1987 .

[30]  Thomas G. West.  In the Mind's Eye: Visual Thinkers, Gifted People With Learning Difficulties, Computer Images, and the Ironies of Creativity , 1991 .

[31]  Mare Taagepera,et al.  Mapping Students' Thinking Patterns in Learning Organic Chemistry by the Use of Knowledge Space Theory , 2000 .

[32]  Jacques D. Fleuriot,et al.  Diagrammatically-Driven Formal Verification of Web-Services Composition , 2012, Diagrams.

[33]  B. Tversky,et al.  Internal and external spatial frameworks for representing described scenes , 1992 .

[34]  R. Kozma,et al.  Multimedia and understanding: Expert and novice responses to different representations of chemical phenomena , 1997 .

[35]  Joseph Krajcik,et al.  Promoting Conceptual Understanding of Chemical Representations: Students' Use of a Visualization Tool in the Classroom , 2000 .

[36]  Mike Stieff,et al.  Connected Chemistry—Incorporating Interactive Simulations into the Chemistry Classroom , 2003 .

[37]  George M. Bodner,et al.  Spatial Ability and its Role in Organic Chemistry: A Study of Four Organic Courses. , 1987 .

[38]  Bruce L Sherin,et al.  How Students Understand Physics Equations , 2001 .

[39]  M. Hegarty,et al.  Spatial ability, experience, and skill in laparoscopic surgery. , 2004, American journal of surgery.

[40]  Mary Hegarty,et al.  Spatial Abilities in Problem Solving in Kinematics , 2002, Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning.

[41]  Wilfried Brauer,et al.  Spatial cognition III: Routes and navigation, human memory and learning, spatial representation and spatial learning , 2003 .

[42]  John J. Clement,et al.  Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students , 2008 .

[43]  Zenon Kulpa,et al.  DIAGRAMMATIC REPRESENTATION AND REASONING , 1994 .

[44]  Mary Hegarty,et al.  Diagrams in the Mind and in the World: Relations between Internal and External Visualizations , 2004, Diagrams.

[45]  Kim A. Kastens,et al.  Eliciting Self-Explanations Improves Children's Performance on a Field-Based Map Skills Task , 2007 .

[46]  Yehudit Judy Dori,et al.  Virtual and Physical Molecular Modeling: Fostering Model Perception and Spatial Understanding , 2001, J. Educ. Technol. Soc..

[47]  A. Rothenberg.  Creative Cognitive Processes in Kekule's Discovery of the Structure of the Benzene Molecule , 1995 .