Training Scientific Thinking: Effect of an Intervention on Argentinian Adolescents? Critical Thinking Skills

MARTINA BOSCOLO; MELINA FURMAN; LORENA RELA; PEDRO BEKINSCHTEIN; RODRIGO LAJE; ANDREA P. GOLDIN

Virtual

Congreso; XXXV Reunión de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias (SAN); 2020

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias

Scientific thinking is built by a set of intentional and explicit cognitive processes of knowledge generation and application and involves the use of evidence to revise and changeexisting theories (1)(2) . It is associated with metacognition and executive functions, capabilities related to activity in lateral prefrontal and middle temporal areas (2) , which continue todevelop until adulthood (3) . This suggests that adolescence might be an important period to investigate this type of reasoning. Scientific thinking can be improved through specifictraining (4) and, under certain circumstances, it is possible to transfer these skills to different domains in everyday life (5) . The NGO Expedición Ciencia (6) organizes 7-to-9-days campsfor 13-to-18 year olds, that include different learning activities aimed at encouraging the development of scientific thinking skills. We designed and tested an instrument to investigatewhether student participation in these science camps actually have the expected effects.