Investigating the generalizability of a dual-process informed intervention strategy*

An emerging body of research has shown that, even after research-based instruction, students who demonstrate correct conceptual understanding and reasoning on one task often fail to use the same knowledge and skills on related tasks. Observed inconsistencies can be accounted for by dual-process theories of reasoning (DPToR), which assert that human cognition relies on two thinking processes. The first, the heuristic process, is fast, intuitive, and automatic, while the second, the analytic process, is slow, effortful, and deliberate. We have recently found some success with a HW-based intervention that leverages DPToR to improve student reasoning about the terminal speed behavior of falling objects. In this talk, I will describe efforts to adapt the intervention strategy to closely-related content domains. I will describe the successes and failures of this approach, and draw conclusions about the generalizability of the DPToR-based intervention.