Modelling Inductive Reasoning Ability for Adaptive Virtual Learning Environment

Inductive reasoning is one of the important characteristics of human intelligence. Researchers have regarded inductive reasoning as one of the seven primary mental abilities that are accounted for intelligent behaviours; researches also showed that it is the best predictor for academic performance. Despite its recognised importance underlying the learning process of human beings, little effort is spent on research to support the inductive reasoning process in virtual learning environments (VLEs). This paper partially addresses this issue by asking the question of how to model inductive reasoning ability of a learner. In this paper, characteristics of inductive reasoning ability are studied in relation to domain knowledge, generalisation, working memory capacity, analogy, and hypothesis generation from the view of cognitive science to extract the manifestations of inductive reasoning ability which are in general observable patterns of learner behaviour. The manifestations listed in this paper can be used by virtual learning environment to model the inductive reasoning ability of the learner.