Three-tiered hierarchical coding scheme for levels of causal mechanistic reasoning¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The article presents a three-tiered hierarchical coding scheme distinguishing noncausal mechanistic, causal, and causal mechanistic levels of explanation, used to analyze student responses to phenomenon-based tasks, instructional dialogue, and exam questions. The team "created a three-tiered coding scheme to identify the levels of causal mechanistic reasoning elicited through in-class dialogue (instructional time) and student responses to phenomenon-based tasks." Fully causal mechanistic responses require entities at least one scalar level below the phenomenon, their behaviors and interactions, and a connection back to the phenomenon (Table 2).

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Topic-specific criteria must be identified for each level, as the article states the intended criteria may be dependent on the prompt.

Constraints¶

• The article notes the scheme is broad and its criteria for each level may be dependent on the prompt; future researchers must identify specific criteria per topic.

Target Learners¶

• undergraduate introductory chemistry students

Target Learning Objectives¶

• constructing causal mechanistic explanations of chemical phenomena

Claims¶

• Dissolution Task Environment Effect [+M]

Related Theories¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Scharlott, L. J.; Rippey, D. W.; Rosa, V.; Becker, N. M. (2024). Progression toward Causal Mechanistic Reasoning through Phenomenon-Based Learning in Introductory Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.3c00517