Mechanistic reasoning in biology among elementary school children: Epistemic criteria for evaluation and construction

Background: In science, mechanistic explanations play a crucial role in elucidating phenomena, highlighting the significance of mechanistic reasoning in science education. Studies in this field offer conflicting views on children’s mechanistic reasoning, with some suggesting that children tend to use other non-mechanistic types of reasoning. Methods: We used a mixed methods exploratory research design to investigate the evaluation and construction of explanations by children in grades 2–6. Children were asked to construct explanations for a biological phenomenon and to evaluate mechanistic and non-mechanistic explanations for three other biological phenomena. Findings: Children who participated in this study could construct mechanistic explanations, even 2^nd graders. Moreover, they accepted more mechanistic explanations than non-mechanistic ones and preferred them over others. Two epistemic criteria seem to contribute to this evaluation process: “explanatory power” assists the children in differentiating between mechanistic and non-mechanistic explanations, and “information accuracy” leads them to reject explanations that contradict their prior knowledge. We found that the accuracy criterion is grounded in knowledge of biology and thinking tools such as thinking across levels. Contribution: Our results highlight the epistemic perspective that elementary school children adopt when evaluating mechanistic and non-mechanistic explanations of biological phenomena and their emerging potential for mechanistic reasoning.