Relational reasoning appears malleable and trainable, but may stabilize in adulthood without relevant experience¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2016 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Analogical reasoning performance can be directly trained, and the shared component processes (encode, infer, map, apply) suggest training could extend to the other forms. → Patricia A Alexander 2016 q2 i? Fountain found no significant change in TORR performance for maternity nurses from prelicensure through more than 10 years of experience, suggesting stability after late adolescence absent pertinent experiences or interventions. → Patricia A Alexander 2016 (2)

Evidence¶

Patricia A Alexander 2016¶

Patricia A Alexander. (2016). Relational thinking and relational reasoning: harnessing the power of patterning. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.4

q2 · i? · review · r2

The article's synthesis of its own training studies with children and adults and of Bayesian network findings: the trained component processes also underlie the other three forms, supporting broader trainability. No effect size is printed.

"there is now empirical evidence that the component processes of analogical reasoning (i.e., encode, infer, map, and apply 48) that my colleagues and I employed in the training of this form of relational reasoning 72 also underlie anomalous, antithetical, and antinomous reasoning."

Patricia A Alexander 2016 (2)¶

Patricia A Alexander. (2016). Relational thinking and relational reasoning: harnessing the power of patterning. npj Science of Learning. https://doi.org/10.1038/npjscilearn.2016.4

q2 · i? · review · r2

The article reports Fountain's finding of no significant change in TORR performance across nursing experience levels, which the author reads as relative stability after late adolescence when no pertinent experiences or interventions were implicated. No effect size is printed.

"Fountain 64 found no signi ficant change in TORR performance for maternity nurses at prelicensure through to those with 410 years of experience."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Algebraic Thinking — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Low-performing students struggle more with working memory demands at the inferring and mapping stages of relational reasoning — related
• Comparing cases side by side improves learning and transfer by a moderate average amount, though in one algebra study it raised procedural knowledge and flexibility but not conceptual knowledge — related
• Relational reasoning shifts by grade level and object familiarity in students grades 1 to 12 — related