The purpose of this proposed quantitative, ex post facto, comparative study with a pretest-posttest design was to assess gains in overall Critical Thinking (CT) skills, and particularly in the Hypothetical-deductive Reasoning (HDR) skills, for pre-health college students tested before and after a Critical Analyses in Science course they attended…

The growing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) dialogue systems within educational and research settings highlights the importance of learning aids. Despite examination of the ethical concerns associated with these technologies, there is a noticeable gap in investigations on how these ethical issues of AI contribute to students'…

This article explores the relationship between argumentation theory and dialogic pedagogy. Arguments made in everyday discourse tend to be enthymematic, i.e., containing implicit premises. Thus, dialogue is often necessary to uncover hidden assumptions. Furthermore, evaluating logical arguments involves dialectical and dialogic processes. We…

"Lollipop Logic" employs visual and pictorial clues to introduce and reinforce high-powered thinking for pre-readers. Seven different thinking skills--sequences, relationships, analogies, deduction, pattern decoding, inference, and critical analysis--are presented in a format designed to appeal to gifted young learners. This…

Teaching syllogistic reasoning is often perceived as teaching pupils the purely formal rules of deductive inference. According to this common conception, such reasoning is a highly abstract skill, one that is carried out by the processing of syntactically encoded representations of the premises. This paper argues that syllogistic reasoning may,…

This research aims to thoroughly explore how authentic assessment methods, designed to emulate real-life challenges, contribute to enhancing the abilities of students to construct logical arguments, critically evaluate evidence, and articulate thoughts coherently in writing. In order to achieve the stated objective, a qualitative research design…

Countercurrent multiplication (CCM) is widely accepted as the mechanism for the generation of the corticopapillary osmotic gradient in the outer medulla of mammalian kidneys. However, several issues in the literature cause the current explanations of CCM to be inefficient and incomplete. As a result, it is challenging to clearly explain CCM in…

One of the oldest criticisms against 'Philosophy for Children' has been that children are too young to engage in abstractions, critical thinking and logic. And indeed, P4C has often been reduced to a critical thinking program where logic is at the forefront of competence development. Thus, when we are trying to address the question whether or not…

This chapter provides an example of how we can analyze a questionable explanation using the categories presented in the previous two chapters, namely alert signals and risk factors. These categories are first summarized in two tables which then serve as an analysis grid for different texts. Next, we take two examples (osmosis and capillary rise),…

In chemistry, reasoning about the underlying mechanisms of observed phenomena lies at the core of scientific practices. The process of uncovering, analyzing, and interpreting mechanisms for explanations and predictions requires a specific kind of reasoning: mechanistic reasoning. Several frameworks have already been developed that capture the…

Epistemological beliefs are considered to play an important role in processes of learning and teaching. However, research on epistemological beliefs is confronted with methodological issues as for traditionally used self-report instruments with closed items, problems with social desirability, validity, and capturing domain-specific aspects of…

This systematic review investigates the impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools on developing academic skills in higher education. Analysing 158 studies published between 2021 and 2024, it focuses on the impact of GenAI tools on the development of cognitive, technical and interpersonal skills. The results reveal that 94% of the…

Analogies are used to make abstract topics meaningful and more easily comprehensible to learners. Incorporating simple analogies into STEM classrooms is a fairly common practice, but the analogies are typically generated and explained by the instructor for the learners. We hypothesize that challenging learners to create complex, extended analogies…

Recent studies indicate the hardship of the current education system in endowing students with appropriate skills to understand and critically view information. Indian studies have similarly criticized the Indian education system for failing to help students learn and comprehend the school curriculum. Indian logic critically enquires the validity…

Guided by self-determination theory to design an authentic learning environment, we attempted repeated engagement in critical evaluation of evidence to foster accuracy-oriented reasoning and critical thinking in an applied science course for non-STEM undergraduates taught completely online during a 6-week summer term and a 16-week fall term.…