Individual Differences in Children’s Scientific Reasoning

Erika Schlatter,Noortje Janssen,Inge Molenaar,Ard W Lazonder

doi:10.3390/educsci11090471

Erika Schlatter, Noortje Janssen + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11090471

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Abstract

Scientific reasoning is an important skill that encompasses hypothesizing, experimenting, inferencing, evaluating data and drawing conclusions. Previous research found consistent inter- and intra-individual differences in children’s ability to perform these component skills, which are still largely unaccounted for. This study examined these differences and the role of three predictors: reading comprehension, numerical ability and problem-solving skills. A sample of 160 upper-primary schoolchildren completed a practical scientific reasoning task that gauged their command of the five component skills and did not require them to read. In addition, children took standardized tests of reading comprehension and numerical ability and completed the Tower of Hanoi task to measure their problem-solving skills. As expected, children differed substantially from one another. Generally, scores were highest for experimenting, lowest for evaluating data and drawing conclusions and intermediate for hypothesizing and inferencing. Reading comprehension was the only predictor that explained individual variation in scientific reasoning as a whole and in all component skills except hypothesizing. These results suggest that researchers and science teachers should take differences between children and across component skills into account. Moreover, even though reading comprehension is considered a robust predictor of scientific reasoning, it does not account for the variation in all component skills.

Highlights

Science education is an important part of the curriculum in many countries [1,2]
Scientific reasoning skills are important for successful inquiry learning: ‘mindson’ scientific reasoning skills [6] are instrumental to achieving meaningful outcomes from a ‘hands-on’ inquiry
This study demonstrated that the test scores conform to a two-parameter Item-Response theory model and have an acceptable expected a posteriori (EAP) reliability of 0.59

Summary

Introduction

Children learn about the underlying principles and causal relationships of science domains as well as the processes through which this knowledge is created This process of intentional knowledge-seeking is known as scientific reasoning [3,4] and is important for children because it prepares them for a society where science and the outcomes of scientific research are embedded in the culture [5]. Scientific reasoning consists of multiple component skills, namely, hypothesizing, experimenting and evaluating evidence, the latter of which can be further divided into inferencing, evaluating data and drawing conclusions [7,8] These component skills emerge at a different age, tend to develop at a different pace and are known to vary greatly between same-age children (e.g., [9]). The inter- and intra-individual differences are not yet well understood, and to this date, few guidelines exist for addressing these differences in primary science classrooms

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