Grant Closed

Grounded and Transferable Knowledge of Complex Systems Using Computer Simulations

NCER

Program: Education Research Grants

Program topic(s): Cognition and Student Learning

Award amount: $796,479

Principal investigator: Robert Goldstone

Awardee:

Indiana University

Year: 2005

Project type:

Development and Innovation

Award number: R305H050116

Purpose

At the time of this project, considerable research suggested that students often did not spontaneously transfer what they learned when there were even superficial differences in learning situations. This research team believed that students could be taught in such a way as to allow them to transfer scientific principles across different areas. To determine how best to support this transfer of knowledge, this research team examined the relation between specific facts and details through which a phenomenon was presented and the abstraction of deeper scientific principles underlying the phenomenon. The researchers developed perceptually based and interactive computer simulations that provided perceptual support to students as they master abstract scientific principles. At the conclusion of this research project, the team aimed to have a fully developed new curricula and supporting materials for teaching complex systems at the college and K-12 levels.

Structured Abstract

Setting

The research will take place in a moderately sized Midwestern community.

Sample

Participants in the laboratory studies are college undergraduates. The middle and high school participants are students in 7th to 10th grade science classes. Both the undergraduates and middle and high school students are diverse in terms of race and socioeconomic status.

Intervention

There are 15 computer simulations teaching abstract concepts that have already been developed, and 10 more are being developed. These simulations include supporting laboratory materials, such as user manuals and laboratory assignments.

Research design and methods

Research methods include both controlled laboratory experiments and classroom-based studies, both investigating the role of perceptually based simulations in fostering students' scientific understanding. By observing how active exploration of one simulation benefits understanding of a subsequently presented simulation in a different content area, but based on the same principle, the researchers can assess whether the scientific principle has been successfully abstracted. Experiments explore the roles of graphical concreteness, narrative contextualization, language specificity, and diagrams on students' implicit and explicit knowledge of scientific principles. Outcomes of this research include prescriptions for how and when concrete and highly contextualized materials should be used, compared to idealized and decontextualized materials. The researchers are also continuing to examine the process of concreteness fading, in which concrete graphical elements within computer simulations are gradually replaced with progressively idealized elements. The classroom-based research occurs both in a freshman seminar on complex adaptive systems and in an eighth grade science class. Student use of simulations is being examined using controlled and counterbalanced studies.

Control condition

Control conditions vary as a function of the purpose of the experiment, but students are randomly assigned to conditions that allow answering theoretical and practical questions of interest across the nine experiments.

Key measures

Student learning is measured with quizzes, problem-solving tasks, and homework assignments. In addition, protocol data is gathered during student work within the simulations.

Data analytic strategy

Analysis of variance and other appropriate statistical techniques are used to evaluate student outcomes of participating in the different manipulations. Protocol analysis techniques are used on the protocols collected during student problem-solving.

People and institutions involved

IES program contact(s)

Elizabeth Albro

Commissioner of Education Research

NCER

Products and publications

ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.

Select Publications

Book chapters

Goldstone, R.L., Day, S., & Son, J.Y. (2010). Comparison. In B. Glatzeder, V. Goel, and A. Von Müller (Eds.), On Thinking: Volume II, Towards a Theory of Thinking (pp. 103-122). New York: Springer Press.

Goldstone, R.L., Feng, Y., & Rogosky, B. (2005). Connecting Concepts to the World and Each Other. In D. Pecher. and R. Zwaan (Eds.), Grounding Cognition: The Role of Perception and Action in Memory, Language, and Thinking (pp. 292-314). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Goldstone, R.L., Gerganov, A., Landy, D., & Roberts, M.E. (2008). Learning to See and Conceive. In L. Tommasi, M. Peterson, and L. Nadel (Eds.), The New Cognitive Sciences (pp. 163-188). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Goldstone, R.L., Landy, D., & Son, J.Y. (2008). A Well Grounded Education: The Role of Perception in Science and Mathematics. In M. DeVega, A. Glenberg, and A. Graesser (Eds.), Symbols, Embodiment, and Meaning (pp. 327-355). Oxford, UK: Oxford Press.

Goldstone, R.L., Roberts, M.E., Mason, W., & Gureckis, T. (2008). Collective Search in Concrete and Abstract Spaces. In T. Kugler, C. Smith, and T. Connelly (Eds.), Decision Modeling and Behavior in Uncertain and Complex Environments (pp. 277-308). New York: Springer Press.

Goldstone, R.L, & Son, J.Y. (2005). Similarity. In K. Holyoak, and R. Morrison (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning (pp. 13-36). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Goldstone, R.L., Wisdom, T.W., Roberts, M.E., & Frey, S. (2013). Learning Along With Others. In B.H. Ross (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation, Volume 58 (pp. 1-45). San Diego: Elsevier Academic Press.

Rogosky, B.J., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). Adaptation of Perceptual and Semantic Features. In L.A. Carlson, and E. van der Zee (Eds.), Functional Features in Language and Space: Insights From Perception, Categorization and Development (pp. 257-273). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Journal articles

Barab, S., Scott, B., Siyahhan, S., Goldstone, R.L., Ingram-Goble, A., Zuiker, S., & Warren, S. (2009). Transformational Play as a Curricular Scaffold: Using Videogames to Support Science Education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 18(4): 305-320.

Corneille, O., Goldstone, R.L., Queller, S., & Potter, T. (2006). Asymmetries in Categorization, Perceptual Discrimination, and Visual Search for Reference and Nonreference Exemplars. Memory and Cognition, 34(3): 556-567.

Day, S.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2011). Analogical Transfer From a Simulated Physical System. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(3): 551-567.

Feng, Y., Goldstone, R.L., & Menkov, V. (2005). A Graph Matching Algorithm and its Application to Conceptual System Translation. International Journal on Artificial Intelligence Tools, 14(1): 77-100.

Goldstone, R.L. (2006). The Complex Systems See-Change in Education. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(1): 35-43.

Goldstone, R.L., Ashpole, B.C., & Roberts, M.E. (2005). Knowledge of Resources and Competitors in Human Foraging. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12(1): 81-87.

Goldstone, R.L., & Gureckis, T.M. (2009). Collective Behavior. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1(3): 412-438.

Goldstone, R.L., & Janssen, M.A. (2005). Computational Models of Collective Behavior. Trends in Cognitive Science, 9(9): 424-430.

Goldstone, R.L., Jones, A., & Roberts, M.E. (2006). Group Path Formation. IEEE Transactions on System, Man, and Cybernetics, Part A, 36(3): 611-620.

Goldstone, R.L., & Leydesdorff, L. (2006). The Import and Export of Cognitive Science. Cognitive Science, 30(6): 983-993.

Goldstone, R.L., Roberts, M.E., & Gureckis, T.M. (2008). Emergent Processes in Group Behavior. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 17(1): 10-15.

Goldstone, R.L., & Son, J.Y. (2005). The Transfer of Scientific Principles Using Concrete and Idealized Simulations. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 14(1): 69-110.

Goldstone, R.L., & Wilensky, U. (2008). Promoting Transfer by Grounding Complex Systems Principles. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 17(4): 465-516.

Gureckis, T.M., & Goldstone, R.L. (2006). Thinking in Groups. Pragmatics and Cognition, 14: 293-311.

Gureckis, T.M., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). How You Named Your Child: Understanding the Relationship Between Individual Decision-Making and Collective Outcomes. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1: 651-674.

Hills, T.T., Todd, P.M., & Goldstone, R.L. (2008). Search in External and Internal Spaces: Evidence for Generalized Cognitive Search Processes. Psychological Science, 19(8): 802-808.

Landy, D.H., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). How we Learn About Things we Don't Already Understand. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, 17(4): 343-369.

Landy, D.H., & Goldstone, R.L. (2007). How Abstract is Symbolic Thought?. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(4): 720-733.

Landy, D.H., & Goldstone, R.L. (2007). Formal Notations are Diagrams: Evidence from a Production Task. Memory and Cognition, 35(8): 2033-2040.

Landy, D.H., & Goldstone, R.L. (2010). Proximity and Precedence in Arithmetic. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(10): 1953-1968.

Quinn, P.C., Schyns, P.G., & Goldstone, R.L. (2006). The Interplay Between Perceptual Organization and Categorization in the Representation of Complex Visual Patterns by Young Infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 95(2): 117-127.

Roberts, M.E., & Goldstone, R.L. (2006). EPICURE: Spatial and Knowledge Limitations in Group Foraging. Adaptive Behavior, 14(4): 291-313.

Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Contextualization in Perspective. Cognition and Instruction, 27(1): 51-89.

Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Fostering General Transfer With Specific Simulations. Pragmatics and Cognition, 17(1): 1-42.

Son, J.Y., Smith, L.B., & Goldstone, R.L (2008). Simplicity and Generalization: Short-Cutting Abstraction in Children's Object Categorizations. Cognition, 108(3): 626-638.

Proceedings

Day, S.B., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Analogical Transfer From Interaction With a Simulated Physical System. In N. Taatgen, H. van Rijn, L. Schomaker and J. Nerbonne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1406-1411). Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society.

Gerganov, A., Grinberg, M., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Partial Position Transfer in Categorical Perceptual Learning. In N. Taatgen, H. van Rijn, L. Schomaker and J. Nerbonne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1828-1833). Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society.

Hockema, S.A., Blair, M.R., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). Differentiation for Novel Dimensions. In B. G. Bara, L. Barsalou, and M. Bucciarelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 953-958). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Landy, D.H., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). Relational Reasoning is in the Eyes of the Beholder: How Global Perceptual Groups Aid and Impair Algebraic Evaluations. In B. G. Bara, L. Barsalou, and M. Bucciarelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2509). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Landy, D.H., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). How Much of Symbolic Manipulation is Just Symbol Pushing?. In N. Taatgen, H. van Rijn, L. Schomaker and J. Nerbonne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1072-1077). Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society.

Landy, D.H., Jones, M.N., & Goldstone, R.L. (2008). How the Appearance of an Operator Affects its Formal Precedence. In B. C. Love, K. McRae, and V. M. Sloutsky (Eds.),Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2109-2114). Washington, DC: Cognitive Science Society.

Mason, W.A., Jones, A., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). Propagation of Innovations in Networked Groups. In B. G. Bara, L. Barsalou, and M. Bucciarelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1419-1424). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Roberts, M.E., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). Explaining Resource Undermatching With Agent-Based Models. In B. G. Bara, L. Barsalou, and M. Bucciarelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1872-1877). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Roberts, M.E., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Adaptive Group Coordination. In N. Taatgen, H. van Rijn, L. Schomaker and J. Nerbonne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2698-2703). Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society.

Roberts, M.E., & Goldstone, R.L. (2009). Sub-Optimalities in Group Foraging and Resource Competition. In N. Taatgen, H. van Rijn, L. Schomaker and J. Nerbonne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2371-2377). Amsterdam: Cognitive Science Society.

Son, J.Y., & Goldstone, R.L. (2005). Relational Words As Handles: They Bring Along Baggage. In B. G. Bara, L. Barsalou, and M. Bucciarelli (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2050-2055). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Supplemental information

Co-Principal Investigator: Smith, Linda B.

Questions about this project?

To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.

Grounded and Transferable Knowledge of Complex Systems Using Computer Simulations

Purpose

Structured Abstract

Setting

Sample

Research design and methods

Control condition

Key measures

Data analytic strategy

People and institutions involved

IES program contact(s)

Elizabeth Albro

Products and publications

Supplemental information

Questions about this project?

Questions about this project?

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