• Title/Summary/Keyword: scientific hypothesis

Search Result 161, Processing Time 0.026 seconds

The High School Students' Problem Solving Patterns and Their Features in Scientific Inquiry (고등학생의 탐구 사고력 문제 해결 과정에 나타난 유형과 특징)

  • Kim, Ik-Gyun;Hwang, Yu-Jeong
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.13 no.2
    • /
    • pp.152-162
    • /
    • 1993
  • The high school students' problem solving patterns and their features in scientific inquiry, especially on controlling variables and stating hypothesis have been investigated. The 8 problems on controlling variables and stating hypothesis were selected out of the scientific inquiry area in the experimental tryout of Aptitude Assessment for College Education, and had been used to find the patterns and their features. The results of findings are as follows: There were seven patterns in the process of solving problems. Five of seven patterns were found in right answers and four patterns in wrong answers. Two patterns were found in both right and wrong answers. Some students could solve the problems even though they did not understand the elements of the scientific inquiry, controlling variables and stating hypothesis. The false application of physics concepts, misunderstanding about the elements of the scientific inquiry and using unrelated experience and conjectures were the features of students' wrong answers. On the other hand, the right application of physics concepts, understanding and applying the elements right, infering answers from the tables and figures on statements of suggested problems were the features of right answers. The further studies on this kind may helpful to find the higher mental abilities related to scientific inquiry and to develop tools for testing students' scientific inquiry thinking skills.

  • PDF

The Role of The Prefrontal Lobes in Scientific Reasoning (과학적 추론 능력의 발달에서 전두엽연합령의 역할)

  • Hur, Myoung;Lawson, Anton E.;Kwon, Young-Ju
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.17 no.4
    • /
    • pp.525-540
    • /
    • 1997
  • The present study tested the hypothesis that maturation of the prefrontal lobes is a crucial factor determining the performance of scientific reasoning tasks, Functions of the prefrontal lobes, such as activating relevant information, sequential planning and monitoring, and inhibiting irrelevant information, are related thinking patterns with scientific reasoning. Therefore, we inferred the idea that the prefrontal lobes play an important role in scientific reasoning. To test the hypothesis. the present study investigated a prefrontal lobe patient's task solving procedures in scientific reasoning tasks and the correlation and regression analysis between a test of prefrontal lobe function and two scientific reasoning tasks, The perseverative errors in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test(WCST) was used as a measure of the prefrontal lobe function, The Melinark Type Task and the Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning were used as measures of scientific reasoning abilities. Ages and Group Embedded Figure Test were also used as measures of two alternative hypotheses, general maturation and field independency respectively. The prefrontal lobe patient showed a crucial deficiency in solving scientific reasoning tasks. In the tasks, the patient could not used the reasoning of If... and... then... therefore pattern. In correlation study, the perseveration errors of the WCST showed a significantly negative correlation with two scientific reasoning tasks. Multiple regression study also showed that the perseveration errors measured as a function of the prefrontal lobes have more contribution to scientific reasoning ability than contributions of alternative hypotheses. Therefore, the present study supported the hypothesis that prefrontal lobes play a crucial role in scientific reasoning ability, What function of the prefrontal lobes do play crucial role in scientific reasoning? The present study provided an explanation for the question, which inhibiting ability of the prefrontal lobes is responsible for the scientific reasoning ability, in a part at least. That is, perseverative tendency in task-solving procedures causes a deficiency of an ability to inhibit the wrong information to solve a task. The present study provided a possibility of neuropsychological approach in science education research. The present study also showed an importance of the prefrontal lobe development in the performance of scientific reasoning task.

  • PDF

The Role of Deductive Reasoning in Scientific Activities (과학활동에서 연역적 사고의 역할)

  • Park, Jong-Won
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.18 no.1
    • /
    • pp.1-17
    • /
    • 1998
  • What does mean the statement that scientific reasoning is logical? In this study, we clarify the logical structure of the scientific explanation, prediction and the process of hypothesis testing. To simplify and identify the structure of scientific explanations and prediction more clearly, we used syllogism and presented various concrete examples. Especially, we showed that the logical structure of scientific explanation was well reflected in dynamics. Based on this analysis, it can be said that the deficit of students' understanding of dynamics is because that many scientific activities are focused on prediction rather than explanation. To explain the process of hypothesis testing, we reinterpreted the Wason's selection task as two stages: the process of prediction of experimental phenomena based on the presented hypothesis, and the process of the hypothesis testing based on the predicted experimental phenomena. And we suggested the reason of the logical fallacy of 'affirming the consequent' in science was because that many scientific relationships between the variables is one-to-one relationship, and compared this suggestion with the Lawon's multiple hypothesis theory. To check out the effect of content on the deductive reasoning, we reviewed some researches about psychology and psychology of science. And to understand the role of deductive reasoning in student's scientific activities, we reviewed researches about the analysis of students' responses in the task of conceptual change or evaluation of evidence and so on.

  • PDF

Improvement of Students' Problem Finding and Hypothesis Generating Abilities: Gifted Science Education Program Utilizing Mendel's Law (문제발견 및 가설설정 능력 신장 과학영재교육프로그램 개발: 멘델의 과학적 사고과정 적용)

  • Kim, Soon-Ok;Kim, Bong-Sun;Seo, Hae-Ae;Kim, Young-Min;Park, Jong-Seok
    • Journal of Gifted/Talented Education
    • /
    • v.21 no.4
    • /
    • pp.1033-1053
    • /
    • 2011
  • In the process of establishing the principle of genetics, Mendel discovered problems based on various observations. Mendel's scientific thinking ability can be effective if this ability is embedded in gifted science education programs. The study aims to develop a science gifted education program utilizing Mendel's scientific thinking ability shown in the principles of genetics and examine students' changes in scientific thinking ability before and after the program implementation. For the program development, first, the characteristics of Mendel's scientific thinking ability in the process of establishing the principle of genetics were investigated and extracted the major elements of inquiry. Second, the science gifted education programs was developed by applying the inquiry elements from the Mendel's Law. The program was implemented with 19 students of $7^{th}$, $8^{th}$ graders who attend the science gifted education center affiliated with university during July 2011. The Mendel's scientific thinking ability was classified into induction, deduction, and integration. The elements of inquiry extracted from the Mendel's scientific thinking include making observation, puzzling observation, proposing causal questions, generating hypothesis, drawing inference, designing experiment, gathering and analyzing data, drawing conclusions, and making generalization. With applying these elements, the program was developed with four phases: $1^{st}$ - problem finding; $2^{nd}$ - hypothesis generating; $3^{rs}$ - hypothesis testing and $4^{th}$ - problem solving. After implementation, students' changes in scientific thinking ability were measured. The findings from the study are as follows: First, students' abilities of problem finding is significantly (p<.05) increased. Second, students' abilities of hypothesis generating is significantly (pp<.05) increased.

A Study on Students Scientific Reasoning in Solving Pendulum Task

  • Yang, Il-Ho
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.23 no.4
    • /
    • pp.430-441
    • /
    • 2003
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of students' prior knowledge on scientific reasoning in solving a pendulum task with a computer simulation. Subjects were 60 Korean students: 27 fifth-grade students from an elementary school and 33 seventh grade students from a middle school located in a city with 300,000 people. This study adapted a pendulum task presented with a computer simulation on which subjects would use a pattern of multivariable causal inferences. The subjects were interviewed individually in a three-phase structured interview by the researcher and three assistants while he/she was investigating the pendulum task. This study showed that most students across grades focused heavily on demonstrating the primacy of their prior knowledge or their current hypothesis. In addition, students' theories that are part of one's prior knowledge have a significant impact on formulating, testing, and revising hypotheses. Therefore, this study supported the notion that students' prior knowledge had a strong effect on students' experimental intent and hypothesis evaluation.

The Structure and Type of Scientific Hypotheses on Zoological Tasks as Generated by Prospective Elementary School Teachers (동물학 과제에서 초등학교 예비 교사들이 생성한 과학적 가설의 구조와 유형)

  • Jeong, Jin-Su
    • Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
    • /
    • v.26 no.2
    • /
    • pp.201-208
    • /
    • 2007
  • The purpose of this study was to analyze the structure and type of prospective elementary school teachers' scientific hypotheses generated on zoological tasks. The subjects were 18 prospective elementary school teachers. Four zoological hypothesis generation tasks were developed and administered to the subjects. After being presented with the zoological situations of the tasks, the subjects were asked to generate causal questions and scientific hypotheses. The scientific hypotheses were analyzed by the inductive approach. The results of this study showed that the hypotheses contained explicans and explicanda. The explicans were divided into two parts: 'what' and 'how'. In some cases, additional explanations were attached to the 'what' section. In addition, the hypotheses were classified into 9 types. The number of explicanda, the pattern of explicans, and the number of explicans were used as criteria for classification purposes. This study also discussed the implications of these findings for future directions in teaching and teaming in science education.

  • PDF

A Grounded Theory on the Process of Generating Hypothesis-Knowledge about Scientific Episodes (과학적 가설 지식의 생성 과정에 대한 바탕이론)

  • Kwon, Yong-Ju;Jeong, Jin-Su;Kang, Min-Jeong;Kim, Young-Shin
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.23 no.5
    • /
    • pp.458-469
    • /
    • 2003
  • Hypothesis is defined as a proposition intended as a possible explanation for an observed phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to generate a grounded theory on the process of undergraduate students' generating hypothesis-knowledge about scientific episodes. Three hypothesis-generating tasks were administered to four college students majored in science education. The present study showed that college students represented five types of intermediate knowledge in the process of hypothesis generation, such as question situation, hypothetical explicans, experienced situation, causal explicans, and final hypothetical knowledge. Furthermore, students used six types of thinking methods, such as searching knowledges, comparing a question situation and an experienced situation, borrowing explicans, combining explicans, selecting an explican, and confirming explicans. In addition, hypothesis-generating process involves inductive and deductive reasoning as well as abductive reasoning. This study also discusses the implications of these findings for teaching and evaluating in science education.

Effects of Students' Prior Knowledge on Scientific Reasoning in Density (학생들의 사전 지식이 밀도과제의 과학적 추론에 미치는 영향)

  • Yang, II-Ho;Kwon, Yong-Ju;Kim, Young-Shin;Jang, Myoung-Duk;Jeong, Jin-Woo;Park, Kuk-Tae
    • Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
    • /
    • v.22 no.2
    • /
    • pp.314-335
    • /
    • 2002
  • The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of students' prior knowledge on scientific reasoning process performing a task of controlling variables with computer simulation and to identify a number of problems that students encounter in scientific discovery. Subjects for this study included 60 Korean students: 27 fifth-grade students from an elementary school; 33 seventh-grade students from a middle school. The sinking objects task involving multivariable causal inference was used. The task was presented as computer simulation. The fifth and seventh-grade students participated individually. A subject was interviewed individually while the investigating a scientific reasoning task. Interviews were videotaped for subsequent analysis. The results of this study indicated that students' prior knowledge had a strong effect on students' experimental intent; the majority of participants focused largely on demonstrating their prior knowledge or their current hypothesis. In addition, studnets' theories that were part of one's prior knowledge had significant impact on formulating hypotheses, testing hypothesis, evaluating evidence, and revising hypothesis. This study suggested that students' performance was characterized by tendencies to generate uninformative experiments, to make conclusion based on inconclusive or insufficient evidence, to ignore, reject, or reinterpret data inconsistent with their prior knowledge, to focus on causal factors and ignore noncausal factors, to have difficulty disconfirming prior knowledge, to have confirmation bias and inference bias (anchoring bias).

A Study on Null Hypothesis and Alternative Hypothesis, Reduction to Absurdity and Application of Bayesian Statistics in Korean Medicine Otolaryngology (임상연구방법론에서 귀무가설과 대립가설, 귀류법에 대한 고찰과 한방이비인후과에서 베이지안 통계학의 활용)

  • Nam, Seung-Pyo;Bae, Jae-Min;Kwon, Kang
    • The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
    • /
    • v.32 no.4
    • /
    • pp.41-61
    • /
    • 2019
  • Background : The current medical statistics used in clinical research are the results of Fisher's significance test and the Neyman-Pearson hypothesis test, which were combined by psychologists. Also, in the philosophical background, it is related to Popper's falsificationism based hypothesis-deductive method and reduction to absurdity. Objectives : This study was designed to find complementary and alternative methods of null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis used for the clinical research methodology of Korean medicine otolaryngology. Methods : The body of this paper was divided into seven part. These are historical background, hypothesis test, hypothesis test method used in the design of clinical study, falsificationism and reduction to absurdity, problem and alternative method of the Neyman-Pearson hypothesis test, diagnosis example of sinusitis differentiation syndromes by Bayesian statistics. Through this process, we found out problems of frequentist statistics and suggested alternative methods. Result & Conclusion : As a solution to the problems of the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis, there are effects size, confidence interval, Bayesian statistics and Lakatos methodology of scientific research programmes.

Development of Elementary Students' Ability to Generate Hypothesis Knowledge through Knowledge Generation Learning in Science (과학 지식 생성 학습을 통한 초등학생들의 가설 지식 생성 능력의 발달)

  • Kang, Eun-Mi;Shin, Dong-Hoon;Kwon, Yong-Ju
    • Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
    • /
    • v.25 no.3
    • /
    • pp.257-270
    • /
    • 2006
  • The purpose of this study was to develop elementary students' ability to generate hypothesis knowledge through knowledge generation learning in science. The learning program consisted of a series of 28 activities to generate hypotheses in science. Eighty 6th grade students participated in the study and were divided into experimental and control groups. The experimental group was administered a program geared towards hypothesis generation learning and the control group was administered a program aimed at hypothesis expository learning in elementary science. After using the respective programs, subjects in both groups were tested in terms of their abilities in abductive knowledge generation and administered a descriptive self-report regarding their generation of hypotheses. Two of the 28 activity program worksheets in the experimental group were analyzed in terms of the quality and process of students' hypothesis generation. The results were as follows: 1) The experimental group showed significantly higher scores in terms of scientific knowledge generation (i.e. abductive knowledge generation) than the control group. 2) The degree of hypothesis explanation in the experimental group was significantly higher than in the control group in terms of the quality of the generated hypotheses. In addition, students in the experimental group generated more varied and valid knowledge than the control group in terms of sub-knowledge of hypothesis generation. Therefore, it can be argued that this program for hypothesis knowledge generation in elementary science students was effective in the generation of hypothesis knowledge.

  • PDF