Learning via model construction and criticism: protocol evidence on sources of creativity in science

Abstract

Some central issues in discussions of creative processes in science are: (1) the mechanism(s) by which hypothesis formation takes place; (2) the sources of new knowledge during hypothesis formation; and (3) the Eureka versus steady accumulation (accretion) issue concerning the pace of change during hypothesis formation. This paper attempts to investigate the question of whether data from transcripts of scientists thinking aloud have the potential to speak to these issues. A case study is examined in which the subject generates a new explanatory model hypothesis--a predictive analogy which describes a hidden process explaining a phenomenon. Findings from the case study appear to show that it is possible to study hypothesis formation and creative insight processes in thinking aloud protocols. The present study suggests a view of hypothesis formation in science that is more complex than can be provided by either an inductivist, rationalist, Eurekaist, or accretionist position alone. Recent analyses of Darwin's thought processes are found to be similar in many respects to the present analysis of thinking aloud data. (Author/YP) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original d'alment.