Scientific Thinking and Reasoning

Scientific thinking refers to the mental processes used when reasoning about the content of science (e.g., force in physics), engaged in typical scientific activities (e.g., designing experiments), or specific types of reasoning that are frequently used in science (e.g., deducing that there is a planet beyond Pluto). Scientific thinking involves many general-purpose cognitive operations that human beings apply in nonscientific domains such as induction, deduction, analogy, problem solving, and causal reasoning. These cognitive processes are covered in many chapters of this handbook (see Sloman & Lagnado, Chap. 5 on induction; Holyoak, Chap. 6 on analogy; Buehner and Cheng, Chap. 7 on causality; Evans, Chap. 8 on deduction; Novick and Bassok, Chap. 1 4 on problem solving; Chi and Ohllson, Chap. 16 on conceptual change). What distinguishes research on scientific thinking from general research on cognition is that research on scientific thinking typically involves investigating thinking that has scientific content. A number of overlapping research traditions have been used to investigate scientific thinking. We cover the history of research on scientific thinking and the different approaches that have been used, highlighting common themes that have emerged over the past fifty years of research.