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Identifying Student Difficulties in Causal Reasoning for College-aged Students in Introductory Physics Laboratory Classes

Owens, Lindsay
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0326-5149
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin152231524077991

Abstract Details

2018, PhD, University of Cincinnati, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Educational Studies.
Students use causal reasoning in their everyday lives to generate hypotheses as to why an event occurred, or to create predictions about future events. Also, causal reasoning skills are critical in the laboratory setting and are needed to (1) look for patterns in collected data, (2) determine if relationships exist between variables, and (3) identify by what mechanism those variables are related. This dissertation presents findings from both qualitative interviews and quantitative assessment data in determining what difficulties exist when students engage in causal reasoning, and how prevalent those difficulties are in the college physics student population. Four overarching themes of causal difficulties were identified, (1) difficulty in differentiation between causation and correlation, (2) difficulty with pre-existing bias, (3) difficulty in understanding and applying conditional reasoning, and (4) difficulty with the confounding effect of COV skills on student’s causal reasoning ability.
Kathleen Koenig, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Lei| Bao, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Rhonda Douglas Brown|, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Helen Meyer|, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Mark Plano Clark, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Physics; Science Education
scientific reasoning; causal reasoning; college-age students

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Owens, L. (2018). Identifying Student Difficulties in Causal Reasoning for College-aged Students in Introductory Physics Laboratory Classes [Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin152231524077991

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Owens, Lindsay. Identifying Student Difficulties in Causal Reasoning for College-aged Students in Introductory Physics Laboratory Classes. 2018. University of Cincinnati, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin152231524077991.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Owens, Lindsay. "Identifying Student Difficulties in Causal Reasoning for College-aged Students in Introductory Physics Laboratory Classes." Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin152231524077991

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin152231524077991
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© 2018, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.