Lawson's Test Research Articles

Development of preservice elementary teachers scientific reasoning skills through scientific inquiry

ABSTRACT Background Scientific reasoning is one of the higher-order thinking skills and has a very important place in science education. However, the research shows that the scientific reasoning levels of students and preservice teachers are low. Purpose This research aimed to examine the development of the scientific reasoning skills of preservice teachers through scientific inquiries conducted in a science laboratory course. Sample Thirty-nine preservice teachers studying in the elementary teaching program of a university participated in the research. Design and methods The research was conducted with a mixed design as qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques were used together. The data were obtained using the Lawson Test for Scientific Reasoning, which was administered in pre and post-tests, and from scientific inquiry reports prepared by the preservice teachers. Participants were categorized within three levels according to the pre-test results of Lawson Test for Scientific Reasoning (Level 0, Low Level I, and High Level). Quantitative data were analyzed with the Wilcoxon signed rank test, and qualitative data were analyzed with content analysis. Results The results revealed significant differences between the pre- and post LTSR scores of the preservice teachers whom are at scientific reasoning Level 0, Low Level I, High Level, and all preservice teachers. According to the findings obtained from the scientific inquiry reports, preservice teachers with different levels of scientific reasoning skills improved their skills in a short period of three weeks. Conclusion In conclusion scientific inquiries had a significant effect in improving the preservice teachers’ scientific reasoning skills.

ANALISIS KEMAMPUAN SCIENTIFIC REASIONING SISWA SMP DAN SMA YAYASAN BADAN KARYA KEUSKUPAN SANGGAU

One of the thinking skills is reasoning ability, which includes the process of connecting facts to existing ideas. Each understudy needs great thinking abilities, particularly in the area of SCIENCE so understudies can all the more effectively associate an occasion with the ideas they have learned. The motivation behind this review was to uncover the degree of thinking capacity of the Center and Secondary School Understudies at the Badan Karya Keuskupan Sanggau Establishment. Understudies' thinking skills were estimated utilizing the Lawson Study hall Test Logical Prevailing upon 12 sets of answer-reason things introduced in various decision structure. During the 2021/22 school year, the entire middle and high school population in the Badan Karya Keuskupan Sanggau Foundation's Mathematics and Natural Sciences class served as the research sample. Questions are given online through Google structure. The study revealed that junior and senior high school students in the Badan Karya Keuskupan Sanggau Foundation's Mathematics and Natural Sciences class had reasoning abilities that were still very low on each indicator, falling into the very poor category. The majority of students can only develop concrete reasoning patterns.Key word : Resioning, Lawson's test

The Lawson’s Test for Scientific Reasoning as a Predictor for University Formative Success: A Prospective Study

Scientific Seasoning skills are crucial, both for successful learning in STEM areas and for the development of citizenship-oriented scientific literacy. The Lawson Test for Scientific Reasoning (LTSR) has been credited in the past for predicting the formative success of university students. In this context, we conducted a prospective study on a cohort (N = 1015) of university freshmen enrolled in science or engineering bachelor’s degrees, following them over three years. The freshmen were administered LTSR at the beginning of their university careers. At the end of the regular degree path duration, their formative achievement was measured. The descriptive statistical and correlational analysis of the collected data suggest a significant predictivity of the LTSR of formative success, in particular, for the people who scored highly in the test, while a low score performance does not seem correlated to a reduced formative success. Differentiated correlations are observed for the five conceptual dimensions that were explored by LTSR. The results presented could be useful in inspiring secondary school educational paths specifically aimed to promote students’ skills in the various conceptual dimensions of the Scientific Reasoning. Moreover, the possible predictivity for post-secondary educational success could make LTSR a useful operational tool for effective outgoing guidance actions in high schools.

Scientific reasoning skills and patterns of use of Information and Communication Technologies. The case of the students of the Universidad de Santander (Valledupar, Colombia)

This research establishes the relationship that has had the development of the skills of scientific reasoning and the patterns of use of tools and resources of information and communication technology (ICT). For that, it is necessary to use Lawson Test and to have into account ICT National Standards for students that USA International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) suggest. Also, this paper is tackled from a non-experimental design featuring a correlational – transectional range. The population consists of 2035 students from a higher education institution of the Colombian Caribbean coast. Besides, stratified random sampling is used defining, defining strata and a representative sample for academic programs. Personal survey was used to collect information. The existence of relationship between scientific reasoning skills and patterns of use of information and communication technology was confirmed.

Research and evaluating of hypothetically-deductive student reasoning in Republic Serbia

The goal of this research is an examination of the degree of development of hypothetical-deductive reasoning in general high schools (?gymnasiums?) in the Republic of Serbia. Hypothetical-deductive reasoning is one of the categories of scientific reasoning that can be measured by the Lawson test. The main characteristic of this reasoning is the indication of the degree of development of abstract thinking in adolescents. Adolescents who have developed this method of reasoning can "operate" statements, establish complex relationships among them, and combine them in a systematic way by reaching a set of all possible combinations. Hypothetical-deductive reasoning is especially important during experiments in physics teaching. It is therefore important to examine how many students have reached this level of reasoning, and find a way to increase the level of scientific reasoning of students. The research involved 654 high school students from Novi Sad and Backa Palanka. The results of the study showed that around 13% of gymnasiums answered correctly all questions related to hypothetical-deductive reasoning. The obtained data indicate that for most students, hypothetical-deductive reasoning has not been developed. The paper presents the way in which hypothetical-deductive reasoning can be developed or stimulated.

A study of the measurement characteristics of Lawson's test and its relationship to socio-demographic variables and physics grades

The aim of the study presented in this paper was to test the measurement characteristics of Lawson's test of Scientific Reasoning (LTSR) and to examine the relationship between scientific reasoning levels on the one hand, and socio-demographic variables and students' physics grades on the other. Scientific reasoning is defined as a set of skills necessary for the successful application of the scientific method, which includes problem analysis, formulation and testing of hypotheses, manipulation of variables, and the monitoring and evaluation of results. The test comprises 13 questions aimed at testing scientific reasoning and 11 questions requiring students to provide reasons for their answers. An empirical analysis of the test was conducted on a sample of 547 high school students in Novi Sad and Bačka Palanka. The obtained values of indicators of reliability and representativeness suggest that the test has satisfactory psychometric properties and can therefore be used in further research.

Learning of content knowledge and development of scientific reasoning ability: A cross culture comparison

We report the results of our study of the connections between students’ learning of physics content knowledge and the development of general scientific reasoning abilities. In particular, we seek to determine whether and to what extent content learning affects the development of general reasoning abilities. Pre-college-instruction data of first-year college students in the United States and China were collected using the FCI, BEMA, and Lawson’s classroom test of scientific reasoning. We find that the rigorous learning of physics knowledge in middle and high schools has made a significant impact on the ability of students in China to solve physics problems, but this knowledge does not seem to have a direct effect on their general scientific reasoning ability, which is determined to be at the same level as that of the students in the United States.

Interpreting force concept inventory scores: Normalized gain and SAT scores

Preinstruction SAT scores and normalized gains G on the force concept inventory FCI were examined for individual students in interactive engagement IE courses in introductory mechanics at one high school N=335 and one university N=292, and strong, positive correlations were found for both populations r=0.57 and r=0.46, respectively. These correlations are likely due to the importance of cognitive skills and abstract reasoning in learning physics. The larger correlation coefficient for the high school population may be a result of the much shorter time interval between taking the SAT and studying mechanics, because the SAT may provide a more current measure of abilities when high school students begin the study of mechanics than it does for college students, who begin mechanics years after the test is taken. In prior research a strong correlation between FCI G and scores on Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning for students from the same two schools was observed. Our results suggest that, when interpreting class average normalized FCI gains and comparing different classes, it is important to take into account the variation of students' cognitive skills, as measured either by the SAT or by Lawson's test. While Lawson's test is not commonly given to students in most introductory mechanics courses, SAT scores provide a readily available alternative means of taking account of students' reasoning abilities. Knowing the students' cognitive level before instruction also allows one to alter instruction or to use an intervention designed to improve students' cognitive level.

Interpreting FCI scores: Normalized gain, preinstruction scores, and scientific reasoning ability

We examined normalized gains and preinstruction scores on the force concept inventory (FCI) for students in interactive engagement courses in introductory mechanics at four universities and found a significant, positive correlation for three of them. We also examined class average FCI scores of 2948 students in 38 interactive engagement classes, 31 of which were from the same four universities and 7 of which came from 3 other schools. We found a significant, positive correlation between class average normalized FCI gains and class average preinstruction scores. To probe this correlation, we administered Lawson’s classroom test of scientific reasoning to 65 students and found a significant, positive correlation between these students’ normalized FCI gains and their Lawson test scores. This correlation is even stronger than the correlation between FCI gains and preinstruction FCI scores. Our study demonstrates that differences in student populations are important when comparing normalized gains in different interactive engagement classes. We suggest using the Lawson test along with the FCI to measure the effectiveness of alternative interactive engagement strategies.

Comments on “the uses of Lawson's test of formal reasoning in the israeli science education context”

AbstractIn a recent article that appeared in this journal, Hofstein and Mandler (1985) reported a study which employed the Lawson's (1978) classroom test of formal reasoning to determine, among other things, the relationship between achievement in science and mathematics in a sample of Israeli students. Based on their findings, the authors raised objections to the classroom utility of the test for diagnosing students' developmental levels. The present author, however, argued that the case has not been properly established in view of one major methodological problem which seemed to characterize the study. Accordingly, the plea to abandon Lawson's test of formal reasoning was questioned.

Comments and criticism of hofstein and Mandler's use and interpretations of the lawson test of formal reasoning

Comments and criticism of hofstein and Mandler's use and interpretations of the lawson test of formal reasoning

Comparative investigation of the psychometric properties of three tests of logical thinking

AbstractUsing a sample of 908 eleventh grade science stream male and female students from similar socioeconomic area schools, variance based psychometric properties of three paper‐and‐pencil tests of logical thinking (Longeot test, Lawson's test TOFR, and Tobin and Capie's test TOLT) are investigated. A sub‐sample of 212 students took the three tests in randomly allocated different sequential orders of presentation, while 696 students took only two tests. Alfa coefficients for each test separately and for the three tests combined together, concurrent validity coefficients, measures of item difficulty, item discrimination, item‐criterion correlation, and 30‐day stability coefficients are calculated. Considering the relative homogeneity of the sample, the reliability coefficients of the tests are judged satisfactory, but concurrent validity coefficients are quite low which implies incongruency in decisions made on the basis of the three tests. Need for estimating various psychometric parameters of alternative tests of logical thinking over different grade populations is emphasized.

The use of Lawson's test of formal reasoning in the Israeli science education context

AbstractLawson's test of formal reasoning was used in the Israeli educational context in order to investigate the relationship between students' achievement in science and in mathematics, to compare the performance of boys and girls, and to compare the performance of Israeli and U.S. populations. It was found that, in general, boys outperform girls; there is only a small correlation between achievement in science and math and Lawson test; and that the Israeli population achieved significantly higher than the U.S. population on the Piagetian skills measured by the test: It was concluded that the future use of Lawson's test by the high school teacher is doubtful.