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How do scientists use analogies and other processes to break away from old theories and generate new ones? This book documents such methods through the analysis of video tapes of scientifically trained experts thinking aloud while working on unfamiliar problems. Some aspects of creative scientific thinking are difficult to explain, such as the power of analogies, the use of physical intuition, and the enigmatic ability to learn from thought experiments. The book examines the hypothesis that these processes are based on imagistic mental simulation as an underlying mechanism. This allows the analysis of insight ( Aha! ) episodes of creative theory formation. Advanced processes examined include specialized conserving transformations, Gedanken experiments, and adjusted levels of divergence in thinking. Student interviews are used to show that students have natural abilities for many of these basic reasoning and model construction processes and that this has important implications for expanding instructional theories of conceptual change and inquiry. "I regard this work as the most comprehensive account ever attempted to show how imagistic, analogic, and sensory-motor representations participate in creative thinking." Professor Ryan Tweney
E-Book Content
Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students The Role of Imagery, Analogy, and Mental Simulation
John J. Clement
Creative Model Construction in Scientists and Students The Role of Imagery, Analogy, and Mental Simulation
John J. Clement University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003 USA
ISBN 978-1-4020-6711-2
e-ISBN 978-1-4020-6712-9
Library of Congress Control Number: 2007938452 © 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V. No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com
Acknowledgments
I would like to acknowledge the contributions of the following persons in preparing this book: First to my wife Barbara Morrell for all her support; and to the following for very valuable discussions: Ryan Tweney, Carol Smith, Lynn Stephens, Neil Stillings, David Brown, Melvin Steinberg, Tom Murray, William Barowy, and Jack Lochhead. The research reported in this document was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants MDR-8751398, DRL-0723709, and REC-0231808. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Introduction: A “Hidden World” of Nonformal Expert Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part One Section I
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Analogies, Models, and Creative Learning in Experts and Students Expert Reasoning and Learning via Analogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Major Processes Involved in Spontaneous Analogical Reasoning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Methods Experts Use to Generate Analogies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Methods Experts Use to Evaluate an Analogy Relation. . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Expert Methods for Developing an Understanding of the An