Thinking in Science - Thinking in General?

Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 7, Issue 2, Foreword (Dec., 2006)
Philip ADEY
Thinking in Science - Thinking in General?

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The Three Central Principles

Cognitive Acceleration through Science Education (CASE) draws on Piaget and the neo-Piagetians, and on Vygotsky and his intellectual followers. From these sources we explicated a series of principles which would guide a pedagogy aimed at promoting higher level thinking (in Piagetian terms, formal operations). The central three of these principles are:

1. Cognitive Conflict. Piaget suggested that one of the mechanisms by which cognition develops is through a challenge to existing cognitive structures by experiences which make demands somewhat beyond the child’s current processing capability. The same idea is encompassed by Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (“The only good learning is that which is advance of development”). CASE activities are designed to provide such challenge, in scientific contexts, on a slope of increasing difficulty such that, at some point, students of different abilities all encounter cognitive conflict.

2. Social Construction. Both Piaget and Vygotsky stressed the role of social interaction in cognitive development, although it is Vygotsky’s claim that “ideas appear first in the social space and then become internalised by the individual” that is best remembered. CASE pedagogy emphasises the importance of collaborative learning in the class, with groups of students interacting with one another, positive argument and critical questioning encouraged, and every student’s contribution valued.

3. Metacognition. Another notion central to the Piagetian model of cognitive development, especially for the emergence of formal operations, is ‘reflective abstraction’, the idea that the individual reaches a higher level of thinking by reflecting on their own thinking. The Vygotskyan notion that language acts as a mediator of learning also suggests that putting thoughts into words (the conscious explication of thought) is a powerful driver of cognitive development. CASE teachers encourage their students to explain what they are thinking, what they find difficult, what they have learned, what mistakes they have made and how they corrected them.

Copyright (C) 2006 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 7, Issue 2, Foreword (Dec., 2006). All Rights Reserved.

1.	Cognitive Conflict. Piaget suggested that one of the mechanisms by which cognition develops is through a challenge to existing cognitive structures by experiences which make demands somewhat beyond the child’s current processing capability. The same idea is encompassed by Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (“The only good learning is that which is advance of development”). CASE activities are designed to provide such challenge, in scientific contexts, on a slope of increasing difficulty such that, at some point, students of different abilities all encounter cognitive conflict.
2.	Social Construction. Both Piaget and Vygotsky stressed the role of social interaction in cognitive development, although it is Vygotsky’s claim that “ideas appear first in the social space and then become internalised by the individual” that is best remembered. CASE pedagogy emphasises the importance of collaborative learning in the class, with groups of students interacting with one another, positive argument and critical questioning encouraged, and every student’s contribution valued.
3.	Metacognition. Another notion central to the Piagetian model of cognitive development, especially for the emergence of formal operations, is ‘reflective abstraction’, the idea that the individual reaches a higher level of thinking by reflecting on their own thinking. The Vygotskyan notion that language acts as a mediator of learning also suggests that putting thoughts into words (the conscious explication of thought) is a powerful driver of cognitive development. CASE teachers encourage their students to explain what they are thinking, what they find difficult, what they have learned, what mistakes they have made and how they corrected them.