It’s Common Sense! Investigating the Role of Simulation in Scaffolding Heuristic and Analytical Reasoning in Chemical Education

Students rely on their heuristic reasoning strategies when solving a problem based on an unobservable concept such as heat transfer. Metacognitive awareness of effectively using such strategies as and when required is essential. However, such awareness cannot be taught implicitly in students unless intervened by methods that reflect or test their solutions. This exploratory study is an investigation of the reasoning processes of 7 senior secondary students working on a heat shield problem based on the Columbia shuttle disaster while using simulation software. Two types of students (A): Students who realize errors in their solutions, are aware of the heuristics used to lead to the erroneous outcome, and embark upon refining their solution into an optimal solution (B): Students who realize errors in their solutions, are not aware of the heuristics used that lead to the erroneous outcome, and do not refine their solution were found during the study.