What affective domains can teach us about student reasoning

A growing body of research has revealed that physics students may answer certain physics questions incorrectly even though they have demonstrated their ability to reason successfully on analogous questions. To better understand this phenomenon, researchers are increasingly using dual-process theories of reasoning (DPToR) as a theoretical lens to explain and predict student reasoning patterns on such physics tasks. While much of the work to date on student reasoning has focused on cognitive and metacognitive domains, relatively little has been done to study the impact of affective domains on reasoning patterns via the DPToR framework. Factors such as self-efficacy and self-regulation through metacognition have previously been linked to student reasoning and have often been predictors of future task success and persistence. According to DPToR, these affective factors may impact student reasoning at many different points in the reasoning cycle. As part of a multi-institutional project, we are developing a survey that probes these affective factors in order to gain greater insight into student reasoning patterns. In this talk, we present preliminary findings from a pilot study and discuss the potential of this work to inform future research-based curriculum development efforts.