Scientific reasoning correlated to altruistic traits in an inquiry learning platform: Autistic vs. realistic reasoning in science problem-solving practice

• The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between altruist levels and scientific reasoning.
• Participants with higher level of altruism demonstrated more frequently to log out to help others than participants with lower level of altruism.
• Participants with lower level of altruism gave more autistic reasoning than those with higher level of altruism.
• Participants with higher level of altruism revealed more frequently to apply science knowledge to explain their reasoning.

Helping others might enrich oneself at his/her own expense. This is the catch-22 for a participant who altruistically helps others. To realize this predicament, the present study incorporated a hypothetical deductive problem-solving model into the Wright Brothers Aviation Game to examine the correlation between altruistic traits and scientific reasoning. In the study, 60 participants were divided into 20 groups based on their altruist levels, as determined using the collaborative altruism scale, and played the e-Learning platform game for 1 h. The results of this study indicated the following: (1) participants with a high level of altruism logged out to help others more times than did participants with low and moderate levels of altruism and (2) there was no correlation between the number of times a participant logged out to help others and the number of times the participant failed at problem solving. In addition, the participants with higher levels of altruism more frequently applied high levels of scientific reasoning to justify their answers. Additional studies with different competitive designs are needed to discover the gender effect of altruism on collaborative action.