Are we teaching students to think like scientists?

TL;DR

This paper examines whether university courses for non-science majors effectively develop scientific reasoning skills, highlighting recent pedagogical advances and the importance of fostering scientific thinking beyond content knowledge.

Contribution

It emphasizes the need to focus on teaching scientific reasoning in non-science courses and reviews recent progress in pedagogical methods for this population.

Findings

Large gains on concept tests reported for non-science courses

Focus shifting from content to reasoning skills in pedagogy

Importance of teaching students to think like scientists

Abstract

University courses in conceptual physics and astronomy typically serve as the terminal science experience for non-science majors. Significant work has gone into developing research-verified pedagogical methods for the algebra- and calculus-based physics courses typically populated by natural and physical science majors; however, there is significantly less volume in the literature concerning the non-science population. This is quickly changing, and large, repeatable gains on concept tests are being reported. However, we may be losing sight of what is arguably the most important goal of such a course: development of scientific reasoning. Are we teaching this population of students to think like scientists?