|
Goals & Objectives:
The goals of an inductive reasoning exercise are generally to develop the
students skills at finding patterns or for them to create rules to explain
phenomena. Sample objective statements include:
During and after performing the Group Report activity, students
will...
- evaluate observations for validity and applicability to developing theories,
- uncover themes and recognize key facets within a given set of information,
- synthesize information from numerous sources,
- recognize key features within observations,
- integrate current contexts with pre-existing knowledge,
...as determined by successfully attending to 80% of rubric items.
Prerequisites:
None
Materials and Resources:
These will depend on the activity, but usually can be limited to Web resources
provided by the instructor. At times, various Java (or other forms) of simulations
may be used from which students may derive their theories.
Guiding Questions for this Lesson:
Students may be asked the following questions: What is the pattern that
leads us to the current state of things? How can the given phenomena be explained
based upon what we already know?
Lesson Outline and Procedure:
- Students are provided with a pattern. This pattern may be pre-existing
or may be one that the students develop through some earlier exercise such
as a simulation or laboratory experiment.
- Based upon the information provided, the students propose theories for
why the phenomena observed occur as they did or a process that leads to
the given final state (such as a geometric proof).
- The student then articulates theories or provides proof for the given
process
- In some cases, additional activities may be proposed in which theories
may be tested.
Teaching Strategies:
- Inductive reasoning can be included with other assessments. It does not
have to be a stand-alone exercise.
Accommodations:
What accommodations may be needed for students with disabilities or other
special needs? Blind students may need accomodations for inducation based
upon visual evidence. Some students with learning disabilities have a severe
lack of inductive reasoning capability, but are still capable in many other
areas. For that reason among others, variety in assessments should be employed.
Timeline:
An inductive exercise can take as little as one minute, whereby an instructor
presents data and asks students to quickly formulate reasons for that data.
An inductive exercise as a stand-alone assignment would typically be given
two days in an online classroom. Often, it would occur in conjunction
with a group of exercises.
Ideas for Lesson Evaluation and Teacher Reflection:
How did the students like the lesson? End of semester evaluations should
ask about the usefulness and learning accomplished through such activities.
Also, the conversation that occurs during the activity will help guage how
the students are enjoying various aspects and whether they are learning and/or
participating.
Questions the instructor should ask when evaluating the lesson include:
Were the students engaged in efficiently working towards a solution? What
are the alternative explanations?
How was student learning verified? Participation can be assessed in discussion
sessions and communications archives. A rubric can also be set up to help
guage the quality of final proposals and the process by which the final solution
was reached.
Additional Readings : (in
no way an all-inclusive list)
- Lohman, D. F. (2001, March). Fluid intelligence, inductive reasoning,
and working memory:
Where the theory of Multiple Intelligences falls short. Paper presented
at The Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association,
Seattle, WA. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://faculty.education.uiowa.edu/dlohman/pdf/MI_theory.pdf
- Santiago, M. C. C., & Martinez, E. C. (2005, Autumn). A proposal of categorisation
for analysing inductive reasoning. Proof: International Newsletter
on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematical Proof, Retrieved February
2, 2007, from http://www.lettredelapreuve.it/Newsletter/05Automne/CERME4CanadaCastro.pdf
- Tenenbaum, J. B., Griffiths, T. L., & Kemp, C. (2006, July). Theory-based
Bayesian models of
inductive learning and reasoning. TRENDS in Cognitive Sciences, 10(7). pp.
309-318. Retrieved February 2, 2007, from http://web.mit.edu/cocosci/Papers/tics-theories-reprint.pdf
Back to Top
 Return
to OTAI Main Page
|
 |
