written by
Lin Ding, Xin Wei, and Katherine Mollohan
An ultimate goal of higher education is to prepare our future workers with needed knowledge and skills. This includes cultivating students to become proficient reasoners who can utilize proper scientific reasoning to devise causal inferences from observations. Conventionally, students with more years of higher education are expected to have a greater level of scientific reasoning. Also expected traditionally is that studying science and engineering or attending top-rated universities can better promote students' scientific reasoning than studying other majors or attending lower ranked institutions. In this study, we used Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTSR) with 1,637 Chinese students in different years of study, different fields, and different university tiers. It was found that regardless of which major or university students entered, their scientific reasoning measured by the LCTSR showed little variation across the entire 4 years of undergraduate education. Simply put, there was little association between tertiary-level learning and scientific reasoning. This study calls our attention to the status quo of higher education and motivates researchers across the globe to look into this issue in their own nations.
International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education: Volume 14, Issue 4, Pages 619-634
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![]() <a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=16013">Ding, L, X. Wei, and K. Mollohan. "Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills?." Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. 14, no. 4, (December 10, 2014): 619-634.</a>
![]() L. Ding, X. Wei, and K. Mollohan, , Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. 14 (4), 619 (2014), WWW Document, (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y).
![]() L. Ding, X. Wei, and K. Mollohan, Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills?, Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. 14 (4), 619 (2014), <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y>.
![]() Ding, L., Wei, X., & Mollohan, K. (2014, December 10). Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills?. Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ., 14(4), 619-634. Retrieved April 18, 2025, from https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y
![]() Ding, L, X. Wei, and K. Mollohan. "Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills?." Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. 14, no. 4, (December 10, 2014): 619-634, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y (accessed 18 April 2025).
![]() Ding, Lin, Xin Wei, and Katherine Mollohan. "Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills?." Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. 14.4 (2014): 619-634. 18 Apr. 2025 <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y>.
![]() @article{
Author = "Lin Ding and Xin Wei and Katherine Mollohan",
Title = {Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills?},
Journal = {Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ.},
Volume = {14},
Number = {4},
Pages = {619-634},
Month = {December},
Year = {2014}
}
![]() %A Lin Ding %A Xin Wei %A Katherine Mollohan %T Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills? %J Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. %V 14 %N 4 %D December 10, 2014 %P 619-634 %U https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y %O text/html ![]() %0 Journal Article %A Ding, Lin %A Wei, Xin %A Mollohan, Katherine %D December 10, 2014 %T Does Higher Education Improve Student Scientific Reasoning Skills? %J Int. J. Sci. Math. Educ. %V 14 %N 4 %P 619-634 %8 December 10, 2014 %U https://doi.org/10.1007/s10763-014-9597-y Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
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