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Abstract:

As reflected in international curriculum and policy documents, acquiring scientific reasoning skills is an important goal of education. Consequently, in recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the question how to conceptualize, to assess and to foster students’ scientific reasoning skills. Hence, this symposium unites four researchers working on these topics. The first contributor (concerned with the problem of the conceptualization of scientific reasoning skills) elaborates on a theoretical framework conceptualizing scientific reasoning skills in terms of three epistemic modes, and eight epistemic activities (Fischer et al., 2014), and identifies relevant research areas to further our conceptual understanding of scientific reasoning skills. In the second contribution of this symposium, the issue of the assessment of scientific reasoning skills is addressed. Although to date several tests have been developed, their conceptual base and the skills they address differ widely. As such, in the second presentation, the development process, administration and analysis of a new instrument (LRST; a test aiming to assess students’ research skills proficiency in upper secondary education) is clarified. The third contributor of this symposium discusses the role of reading comprehension, arithmetic ability and problem solving skill in explaining variation in scientific reasoning. In the fourth talk, the effect of interactive and constructive instructional approaches on students’ proficiency in evaluating scientific literature is addressed. An expert in the measurement of hard-to-measure concepts (such as cognitive capacity and cognitive load) will lead the symposium as a discussant. During (and after) the symposium there will be room for discussion.