Philadelphia, PA: International Society of the Learning Sciences., Jul 1, 2017
Research has shown that the construction of visual representations may have a positive effect on ... more Research has shown that the construction of visual representations may have a positive effect on cognitive skills, including argumentation. In this paper we present a study on learning argumentation through computer-supported argument diagramming. We specifically focus on whether students, when provided with an argument-diagramming tool, create better diagrams, are more motivated, and learn more when working with other students or on their own. We use learning analytics to evaluate a variety of student activities: pre and post questionnaires to explore motivational changes; the argument diagrams created by students to evaluate richness, complexity and completion; and pre and post knowledge tests to evaluate learning gains.
Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what ext... more Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what extent student dyads' online argumentation can be facilitated with collaboration scripts that (1) prompt learners to prepare individually, (2) create conflict, and (3) encourage productive collaboration and argumentation. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted treatment group used significantly more words and broadened and deepened their discussions significantly more than the unscripted group. Qualitative analysis indicates that scripted learners engaged in more critical and objective argumentation than non-scripted learners.
After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory ... more After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory philosophy class at Carnegie Mellon University, we designed an experiment, performed twice over the course of two semesters, to test whether they were actually learning these skills. In addition, there were four different lectures of this course in the Spring of 2004, and five in the Fall of 2004; and the students of Lecturer I (in both semesters) were taught the material using argument diagrams as a tool to aid understanding and critical evaluation, while the other students were taught using more traditional methods. We were interested in whether this tool would help the students develop the skills we hoped they would master in this course. In each lecture, the students were given a pre-test at the beginning of the semester, and a structurally identical post-test at the end. We determined that the students did develop the skills in which we were interested over the course of the semeste...
There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of ... more There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of cognition. We aimed to determine whether visual representations of argument structure enhanced the acquisition and development of critical thinking skills within the context of an introductory philosophy course. We found a significant effect of the use of argument diagrams, and this effect was stable even when multiple plausible correlates were controlled for. These results suggest that natural - and relatively minor - modifications to standard critical thinking courses could provide substantial increases in student learning and performance.
American Association of Philosophy Teachers Studies in Pedagogy, 2019
Problem-Based Learning has become an increasingly popular instructional method for a variety of d... more Problem-Based Learning has become an increasingly popular instructional method for a variety of disciplines at all levels. Many studies and meta-analyses of these studies have shown the efficacy of this method for developing knowledge and skills. I adopted this method for teaching Engineering Ethics at Carnegie Mellon University, which has as its main course objectives the development of moral reasoning skills, as well as collaboration and communication skills, with special attention given to ethical dilemmas that may arise in the normal course of an engineer’s professional career. In the most recent iteration of the course, I used the Engineering and Science Issues Test as a pretest and posttest to test the development of my students’ moral reasoning skills over the course of the semester. Based on the results of these tests, I argue that the students in my Engineering Ethics course did in fact significantly develop their moral reasoning skills.
Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, 2015
Physics is, like all sciences, not simply a collection of theories about how the world works. The... more Physics is, like all sciences, not simply a collection of theories about how the world works. Theories and models of the world obviously play a critical role in physics, but they do not fully define the science. Rather, physics is an activity done by human beings with their attendant values, interests, and cognitive biases, in a complex, noisy world that does not come to us "carved at its joints." The dynamic nature of physics-the discovery, justification, negotiation, acceptance, and so on of its claims, models, experiments, and methods-cannot be captured through an exclusive focus on the static mathematical formulations of physical theories. Instead, we can more fruitfully think of physics, or arguably any science for that matter, as a set of practices, and more specifically, as a set of distinctively social, cognitive, and theoretical/methodological practices (Longino 1990). Understanding science as practices, rather than theories or data, is certainly not novel to this chapter or even philosophy of physics. An emphasis on practice has been one of the most notable aspects of the recent "naturalistic turn" in general philosophy of science, in no small part due to the arguments of many feminist philosophers of science. Theories and models are important, but their presentation and structure often obscures key aspects of their history, motivation, and importance. Moreover, many of the most interesting activities in science take place outside of the traditional categories of theory and evidence. A major project of feminist philosophy of physics has been to shine a critical light on the social and cognitive practices in physics, and how those ultimately influence other aspects of the science.
Learning to argue in a computer-mediated and structured fashion is investigated in this research.... more Learning to argue in a computer-mediated and structured fashion is investigated in this research. A study was conducted to compare dyads that were scripted in their computer-mediated collaboration with dyads that were not scripted. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted experimental group used significantly more words and engaged in significantly more broadening and deepening of the discussion than the non-scripted control group.
Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, 2012
After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory ... more After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory philosophy class at Carnegie Mellon University, we performed an experiment twice over the course of two semesters to test whether they were actually learning these skills. In addition, there were four different lectures of this course in the first semester, and five in the second; in each semester students in some lectures were taught the material using argument diagrams as a tool to aid understanding and critical evaluation, while the other students were taught using more traditional methods. In each lecture, the students were given a pre-test at the beginning of the semester, and a structurally identical post-test at the end. We determined that the students did develop the skills in which we were interested over the course of the semester. We also determined that the students who were taught argument diagramming gained significantly more than the students who were not. We conclude that learning how to construct argument diagrams significantly improves a student's ability to analyze arguments.
Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what ext... more Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what extent student dyads' online argumentation can be facilitated with collaboration scripts that (1) prompt learners to prepare individually, (2) create conflict, and (3) encourage productive collaboration and argumentation. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted treatment group used significantly more words and broadened and deepened their discussions significantly more than the unscripted group. Qualitative analysis indicates that scripted learners engaged in more critical and objective argumentation than non-scripted learners.
In an experiment involving 465 students in 26 different courses in the Fall of 2012, we investiga... more In an experiment involving 465 students in 26 different courses in the Fall of 2012, we investigated the effect of being able to identify parts of arguments on subsequent argument analysis tasks while taking the Carnegie Mellon University Argument Diagramming Online course. An argument diagram is a visual representation of the content and structure of an argument, and the Argument Diagramming Online course aims to teach students how to construct argument diagrams to aid in argument analysis tasks. The online course uses a large number of different kinds of interactive exercises. In the study, all of the students were enrolled in the Argument Diagramming Online course through their academic course. The results are that correctly marking exercises that ask for the user to determine identifiers is necessary for correctly marking later exercises and exam questions. The implication of this study is that, when teaching argument analysis and diagramming, teachers should focus more attention on students learning to use textual markers to identify parts of an argument.
Argument mapping software abounds, 1 and one of the reasons is that using the software has been s... more Argument mapping software abounds, 1 and one of the reasons is that using the software has been shown to teach/promote/improve critical thinking skills. These positive results are very encouraging, but they also raise the question of whether the computer tutorial environment is producing these results, or whether learning argument mapping, even with just paper and pencil, is sufficient. Based on the results of two empirical studies, I argue that the basic skill of being able to represent an argument diagrammatically plays an important role in the improvement of critical thinking skills. While these studies do not offer a direct comparison between the two methods, it is important for anyone wishing to employ argument mapping in the classroom to know that significant results can be obtained even with the most rudimentary of tools.
Philadelphia, PA: International Society of the Learning Sciences., Jul 1, 2017
Research has shown that the construction of visual representations may have a positive effect on ... more Research has shown that the construction of visual representations may have a positive effect on cognitive skills, including argumentation. In this paper we present a study on learning argumentation through computer-supported argument diagramming. We specifically focus on whether students, when provided with an argument-diagramming tool, create better diagrams, are more motivated, and learn more when working with other students or on their own. We use learning analytics to evaluate a variety of student activities: pre and post questionnaires to explore motivational changes; the argument diagrams created by students to evaluate richness, complexity and completion; and pre and post knowledge tests to evaluate learning gains.
Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what ext... more Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what extent student dyads' online argumentation can be facilitated with collaboration scripts that (1) prompt learners to prepare individually, (2) create conflict, and (3) encourage productive collaboration and argumentation. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted treatment group used significantly more words and broadened and deepened their discussions significantly more than the unscripted group. Qualitative analysis indicates that scripted learners engaged in more critical and objective argumentation than non-scripted learners.
After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory ... more After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory philosophy class at Carnegie Mellon University, we designed an experiment, performed twice over the course of two semesters, to test whether they were actually learning these skills. In addition, there were four different lectures of this course in the Spring of 2004, and five in the Fall of 2004; and the students of Lecturer I (in both semesters) were taught the material using argument diagrams as a tool to aid understanding and critical evaluation, while the other students were taught using more traditional methods. We were interested in whether this tool would help the students develop the skills we hoped they would master in this course. In each lecture, the students were given a pre-test at the beginning of the semester, and a structurally identical post-test at the end. We determined that the students did develop the skills in which we were interested over the course of the semeste...
There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of ... more There is substantial evidence from many domains that visual representations aid various forms of cognition. We aimed to determine whether visual representations of argument structure enhanced the acquisition and development of critical thinking skills within the context of an introductory philosophy course. We found a significant effect of the use of argument diagrams, and this effect was stable even when multiple plausible correlates were controlled for. These results suggest that natural - and relatively minor - modifications to standard critical thinking courses could provide substantial increases in student learning and performance.
American Association of Philosophy Teachers Studies in Pedagogy, 2019
Problem-Based Learning has become an increasingly popular instructional method for a variety of d... more Problem-Based Learning has become an increasingly popular instructional method for a variety of disciplines at all levels. Many studies and meta-analyses of these studies have shown the efficacy of this method for developing knowledge and skills. I adopted this method for teaching Engineering Ethics at Carnegie Mellon University, which has as its main course objectives the development of moral reasoning skills, as well as collaboration and communication skills, with special attention given to ethical dilemmas that may arise in the normal course of an engineer’s professional career. In the most recent iteration of the course, I used the Engineering and Science Issues Test as a pretest and posttest to test the development of my students’ moral reasoning skills over the course of the semester. Based on the results of these tests, I argue that the students in my Engineering Ethics course did in fact significantly develop their moral reasoning skills.
Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, 2015
Physics is, like all sciences, not simply a collection of theories about how the world works. The... more Physics is, like all sciences, not simply a collection of theories about how the world works. Theories and models of the world obviously play a critical role in physics, but they do not fully define the science. Rather, physics is an activity done by human beings with their attendant values, interests, and cognitive biases, in a complex, noisy world that does not come to us "carved at its joints." The dynamic nature of physics-the discovery, justification, negotiation, acceptance, and so on of its claims, models, experiments, and methods-cannot be captured through an exclusive focus on the static mathematical formulations of physical theories. Instead, we can more fruitfully think of physics, or arguably any science for that matter, as a set of practices, and more specifically, as a set of distinctively social, cognitive, and theoretical/methodological practices (Longino 1990). Understanding science as practices, rather than theories or data, is certainly not novel to this chapter or even philosophy of physics. An emphasis on practice has been one of the most notable aspects of the recent "naturalistic turn" in general philosophy of science, in no small part due to the arguments of many feminist philosophers of science. Theories and models are important, but their presentation and structure often obscures key aspects of their history, motivation, and importance. Moreover, many of the most interesting activities in science take place outside of the traditional categories of theory and evidence. A major project of feminist philosophy of physics has been to shine a critical light on the social and cognitive practices in physics, and how those ultimately influence other aspects of the science.
Learning to argue in a computer-mediated and structured fashion is investigated in this research.... more Learning to argue in a computer-mediated and structured fashion is investigated in this research. A study was conducted to compare dyads that were scripted in their computer-mediated collaboration with dyads that were not scripted. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted experimental group used significantly more words and engaged in significantly more broadening and deepening of the discussion than the non-scripted control group.
Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines, 2012
After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory ... more After determining one set of skills that we hoped our students were learning in the introductory philosophy class at Carnegie Mellon University, we performed an experiment twice over the course of two semesters to test whether they were actually learning these skills. In addition, there were four different lectures of this course in the first semester, and five in the second; in each semester students in some lectures were taught the material using argument diagrams as a tool to aid understanding and critical evaluation, while the other students were taught using more traditional methods. In each lecture, the students were given a pre-test at the beginning of the semester, and a structurally identical post-test at the end. We determined that the students did develop the skills in which we were interested over the course of the semester. We also determined that the students who were taught argument diagramming gained significantly more than the students who were not. We conclude that learning how to construct argument diagrams significantly improves a student's ability to analyze arguments.
Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what ext... more Computer-mediated environments provide an arena for learning to argue. We investigate to what extent student dyads' online argumentation can be facilitated with collaboration scripts that (1) prompt learners to prepare individually, (2) create conflict, and (3) encourage productive collaboration and argumentation. A process analysis of the chats of the dyads showed that the scripted treatment group used significantly more words and broadened and deepened their discussions significantly more than the unscripted group. Qualitative analysis indicates that scripted learners engaged in more critical and objective argumentation than non-scripted learners.
In an experiment involving 465 students in 26 different courses in the Fall of 2012, we investiga... more In an experiment involving 465 students in 26 different courses in the Fall of 2012, we investigated the effect of being able to identify parts of arguments on subsequent argument analysis tasks while taking the Carnegie Mellon University Argument Diagramming Online course. An argument diagram is a visual representation of the content and structure of an argument, and the Argument Diagramming Online course aims to teach students how to construct argument diagrams to aid in argument analysis tasks. The online course uses a large number of different kinds of interactive exercises. In the study, all of the students were enrolled in the Argument Diagramming Online course through their academic course. The results are that correctly marking exercises that ask for the user to determine identifiers is necessary for correctly marking later exercises and exam questions. The implication of this study is that, when teaching argument analysis and diagramming, teachers should focus more attention on students learning to use textual markers to identify parts of an argument.
Argument mapping software abounds, 1 and one of the reasons is that using the software has been s... more Argument mapping software abounds, 1 and one of the reasons is that using the software has been shown to teach/promote/improve critical thinking skills. These positive results are very encouraging, but they also raise the question of whether the computer tutorial environment is producing these results, or whether learning argument mapping, even with just paper and pencil, is sufficient. Based on the results of two empirical studies, I argue that the basic skill of being able to represent an argument diagrammatically plays an important role in the improvement of critical thinking skills. While these studies do not offer a direct comparison between the two methods, it is important for anyone wishing to employ argument mapping in the classroom to know that significant results can be obtained even with the most rudimentary of tools.
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