Table 1 Code definitions and example responses from for ARS questions
From: The role of pedagogical tools in active learning: a case for sense-making
Code | Description | Example of thinking process |
|---|---|---|
Immediate recall | Answering the question from work completed during the immediate class session | “So to answer this, I think I would look to my worksheet, so whatever that model is. So that model with the, oh it’s graphs as I recall, so model with graphs and then I would reference my conversation that I had.” |
Recognize concept(s) | Explicitly identifying the main concept(s) involved in a question | “Okay, I’m thinking, again, degrees of freedom, but we’ve got multiple phases here and so we need to use Gibbs phase rule…” |
Compare available answers for best choice | Reviewing available multiple choice answers to decide which answer made the most sense | “I think that I would have to say okay, you know, we just went through these four answers from this worksheet, and, you know, we eliminated some of these options basically as being the wrong answer.” |
Select information from question | Referring to the question to obtain needed information to work towards the answer | “I’m gonna go back to my problem and look at umm you know, what are the things I’m given umm is there something that makes sense in terms to base this calculation on.” |
Conceptual reasoning | After identifying a concept, using fundamentals to reason through to an answer (e.g., using a graphical representation or an equation to think through how the variables related to one another) | “…think about the mass flow rate and use that to say that the mass in and out is gonna be the same. So I’m going to, yeah, focus on that concept of mass conservation here.” |
Quantitative reasoning | Developing equations to describe what was happening in the question and also possibly using a numerical calculation. | “And in this case I want to do a material balance on C… I’m just gonna write it out, in minus out plus generation minus consumption equals zero…” |
Metacognitive thinking | Reflecting on the context that the question is asked or the meaning or reasonableness of an answer | “Ultimate aim of the process is to produce dry crystalline, sodium bicarbonate so what did I think this process was for, looks like we’re actually trying to make the solid phase as opposed to reducing the concentration in the liquid phase.” |
Recall lecture information/prior knowledge | Using information presented in lecture or other course resources to make progress | “Alright so it’s uhh it’s telling me that umm it’s going to be example problem similar to one that we worked in lecture.” |