UCL STS Seminar series: Mechanistic explanations: what for and for whom?

Mechanistic explanations: what for and for whom?  

Abstract

In the past decade, mechanistic reasoning has granted much attention in science education. The reason for this is the centrality of mechanistic explanations in science and the contribution of mechanistic reasoning to understanding the causal structure of the world around us. While there is information about the components of mechanistic reasoning and the epistemic knowledge required for reasoning about mechanisms, there is not enough knowledge about how children and adults evaluate mechanistic explanations and their use. In my talk, I will present the outcome of three studies. The first investigated how elementary school students evaluate mechanistic explanations versus non-mechanistic ones. The second study examined how laypeople evaluate explanations with different levels of mechanistic details. The third study is an ongoing one with some preliminary results. This study examines how cancer patients evaluate the usefulness of mechanistic information about their treatment and disease for their ability to control their illness. I will present the outcomes of these studies and will draw implications for teaching and learning about mechanisms.