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This study is part of a larger research agenda, which includes future doctoral study, aiming to investigate the psychological processes of thought experiments. How do thought-experimenters establish relations between their imaginary worlds and the physical one? How does a technique devoid of new sensory input result to new empirical knowledge? In this study I investigate the following claims as possible answers: that intuition grounds the behaviour of an imaginary scenario in the experienced world; and that imagistic simulation provides the thought-experimenter with a quasi-perceptual analogue to direct perception through which they acquire novel empirical knowledge. Case methodology was adopted, the case being a pair of final year A-level physics students. Data was collected through non-participant observation over two sessions of collaborative problem-solving. The tasks drew upon Newtonian mechanics. A certain type of thought-experimental reasoning prevailed in the observation protocol. These thought experiments do not aim to induce unexpected results but to make intuitions about a situation experiencable in a concrete (imaginary) scenario. I interpret thought experiments of this type as a mental analogue to inductive discovery through physical experiment. A critical question for future research is whether all thought-experimental reasoning in general emulates physical experimentation, as the answer will potentially provide insights for exploring thought experimenting as an educable skill. [Appended are: (1) Paradigmatic Cases of TES; (2) The Tasks; (3) Transcripts; and (4) Letter Requesting Access. Thesis Presented for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Educational Research.]

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert