Using Writing as a Heuristic for Scientific Problem-Solving in a Computer-mediated Environment

Rose-Hulman Institute Of Technology, Terre Haute IN

Investigators

Abstract

Interdisciplinary (99) BROCA (Basic Research, Observations, and Critical Analysis), a computer-mediated learning environment, is being used in an innovative, introductory writing course for science and engineering students. The highly-interactive, web-delivered multimedia software is based on recent cognitive theories extended into a robust pedagogy for teaching effective and efficient writing. The new ABET requirements, changing realities of the workplace, and growing awareness of language in the learning process place added emphasis on writing in the modern science/engineering curriculum. Yet students enter into such curricula ill-prepared to undertake the types of instrumental writing required in their majors. The traditional Freshman Composition course has neither the content nor the time-expanse to address these deficiencies. Additionally, (while definitive evidence has not yet been gathered), many researchers -- both in learning styles and in composition studies -- posit that women and certain ethnic minorities are less adept at forms of writing that require discerning patterns in bodies of information, decision-making, staged problem solving, analysis, synthesis, and inferencing. BROCA is making extensive use of NASA databases, imagery, and scientific expertise to provide both the materials and the context for a series of "problem-based" units. A set of highly interactive modules present the fundamental mental manipulations of observing phenomena, performing elemental mental processing (e.g. detecting and classifying recurrent patterns), and then drawing conclusions or explanations through inferencing, interpretation, and/or application of enumerative generalizations. Using this rich context and guided-inductive mediation in the writing process, students are learning powerful cognitive strategies for gaining intellectual control over the thinking/writing process.