CROSS-DOMAIN DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC REASONING

The two studies presented here examine processes of theory revision and strategy change that occur when preadolescent subjects engage in self-directed exploration of a problem domain. The microgenetic method, involving frequent encounters with the same tasks over a period of months, permitted detailed observation of the change process. Not only do theories themselves undergo revision but also the reasoning strategies subjects use to generate new knowledge show improvement over time. The cross-domain feature of the research made it possible to establish that these strategies show co-development when subjects are observed over time working in two different content domains. The research thus accomplishes the objective of more clearly distinguishing the reasoning competencies that are developing from the domain-specific contexts in which they are situated.