Much recent research and theorizing in the field of reasoning has been concerned with intuitive sensitivity to logical validity, such as the logic-brightness effect, in which logically valid arguments are judged to have a "brighter" typeface than invalid arguments. We propose and test a novel signal competition account of this…

Game-based learning has gained significant attention from educational researchers because of its ability to create an engaging and enjoyable learning environment for students. However, there was a research gap regarding the design of game mechanics that specifically helped students understand abstract scientific concepts. Also, the impact of…

We report on interviews conducted with twenty-one elementary school children (grades 1-5) about a number of Earth science concepts. These interviews were undertaken as part of a teacher training video series designed specifically to assist elementary teachers in learning essential ideas in Earth science. As such, children were interviewed about a…

A study explored the degree to which people can capture the meaning of logical terms, using mental imagery. It was then hypothesized that: (1) subjects generally would fail to express logical relationships accurately, and (2) abstract images would be more difficult to capture than would concrete ones. Subjects, 25 college students, were asked to…

Forty-four education and 44 dental students were administered a 30-item syllogism test containing five syllogic forms six times repeated in three different content forms--technical dental terms, common dental terms, and content-free (letters). Data were analyzed using a two-factor with repeated measures on one factor design. It was found that…

Children's ability to infer consequences from sentences automatically was assessed in two cued recall experiments. Seven- and eight-year-old children and adults served as subjects. (JMB)

Students (N=22) enrolled in secondary school biology were evaluated for their abilities to use: combinatorial logic; correlational reasoning; separation and control of variables; exclusion of irrelevant variables; proportional reasoning; and probabilistic reasoning. Each student responded individually to six Piagetian tasks designed to measure…

Children, aged 4-8 were given 2-term relational problems to test the hypothesis that only older children can process sentences as propositions and realize their logical implications. Results indicated even the youngest children could perform the task. (ST)

The development of children's comprehension of cause and effect relationships was studied in 68 kindergarten, first grade, and second grade children. (BRT)

Two experiments are reported on the effect of negation on reasoning with conditional rules. (Author)

This paper examines the area of teachers' practical arguments (arugments consisting in the search for a plan of action), considering questions such as: How does rationality manifest itself in practice, and in specific human practices like teaching? Is practical reasoning in teaching moral? Do values of theoretical reasoning, such as universality,…

To broaden and develop reasoning powers in students the teacher should encourage observation, critical questioning of hypotheses, evaluation of conclusions and how they are reached, and propose new avenues of approach to problems. (JD)

This study examined the effects of certain contextual linguistic variables on the logical performance of subjects in grades 4, 6, and 12 of selected British Columbia schools as well as some theoretical problems underlying assessment of the development of logical abilities. The task consisted of 27 syllogistic problems based upon the information…

An extensive bibliography on teaching thinking skills is presented. This bibliography incorporates from an earlier one (1989) the available relevant references in the field of cognitive education as well as new references that have appeared since early 1989. This field of cognitive education is expanding at such a rapid rate that no bibliography…

Preservice elementary teachers' use of examples in recognizing and disproving invalid deductive arguments related to topics in elementary school mathematics was examined. Two forms of the Classroom Logic Test were developed, one multiple choice and one free response. Subjects were asked to judge the correctness of arguments and, if incorrect,…