ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we present a cognitive theory of scientific reasoning, and we discuss implications of this theory for instruction and research. We focus especially on experiments as one important form of scientific reasoning. Our basic premise is that experiments can be represented cognitively as models that incorporate several kinds of inferential connections, including causal, contrastive, inductive, and analogical connections. Reasoning about experiments involves constructing and critiquing these cognitive models of experiments. The theory presented in this chapter is a major extension of an earlier theory, the models-of-data theory developed by Chinn and Brewer (1996; 1999).
