Students IDENTIFIERS Convince Me Computer Software; *Representational Modeling

The "Convince Me " "reasoner's workbench " software provides a means of explicating and revising arguments and;a "reasoning engine " for assessing one's beliefs. A proposed I modification to the Convince Me interface, the addition of an online diagrammatic representation to an argument's structure, is premised on the belief that multiple representations can lead to a more robust understanding of a concept and a belief in the utility of diagrams as tools for reflection. This study investigated how students made sense of their arguments, as structured with the Convince Me interface, through the use of diagrams. The impact of re-representing an argument was assessed through the Convince Me interface, an argument diagram, ana a more standard argument listing. Results with 24 undergraduates indicated that by itself and with another form of representation, Convince Me appeared to be a good tool for representing subjects ' beliefs. Multiple representations appeared useful for enhancing reasoning skills, allowing each student to use a representational form that was comfortable, while providing access to linked representations that offered a different perspective. (Contains 7 figures, 3 tables, and 46 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document