Reports a study investigating the utility of 52 items, selected from a readily available item pool developed for instructional purposes, when the items are used to measure critical thinking abilities of biology students. The items had reasonably good internal consistency reliability and good concurrent validity. (PR)

Review of literature concerning problem solving in genetics and Piagetian stage theory. Authors conclude the research suggests that formal-operational thought is not strictly required for the solution of the majority of classical genetics problems; however, some genetic concepts are difficult for concrete operational students to understand.…

Responses of 322 university sophomores (education majors) on an evolution problem "How could the bat have evolved wings?" are analyzed and classified. Concludes that misunderstandings are logical. (PR)

Seventh-grade students (n=397) were studied to determine the effect on immediate achievement and retention of a unit designed to promote the development of estimating skills involved in metric measuring. Identical metric instruction was used with the exception of activities in estimation for the treatment group. The treatment group retained…

Found grades in science achieved by tenth-grade general science students correlated with their scores on Propositional Logic Test. The students' ability level was consistently related to the pattern of errors they committed on that measure. Mean scores were lowest on a subtest of ability to use the bicondition and implication, higher on the…