A Lighter Shade of Black Boxes: Students' Interpretations of the Distinction Between Black Box Explanations and Unpacked Mechanistic Explanations

Scientific explanations rarely include all interactions and entities in a mechanism. Instead, some information is hidden in black boxes, keeping the focus on the explanation's essence. Studies show that navigating between black-box explanations and detailed mechanistic explanations perplexes students as they misunderstand the reasons for including or omitting mechanistic information. Therefore, we examined students' preference towards information allowing for the formation of either a black-box explanation or a detailed mechanistic explanation. Fifty-two 9th grade students read three scientific problems in three contexts. Students stated and justified their preference of information. Analysis revealed students based choices on problems' context and explanation's productivity. Students preferred black-box information when recognizing the need to make a prediction and detailed information when recognizing a need to control phenomena. Results suggest clear explanatory goals assist students' navigation between detailed and black-box explanations. This calls for a more explicit discussion around black boxes in the science classroom.