A key assumption of dual process theory is that reasoning is an explicit, effortful, deliberative process. The present study offers evidence for an implicit, possibly intuitive component of reasoning. Participants were shown sentences embedded in logically valid or invalid arguments. Participants were not asked to reason but instead rated the…

The authors have, for some years, studied the concept of "possibility thinking" (PT), or "what if" and "as if" thinking in children aged 3-11, which generates novelty -- and the pedagogical strategies which foster it. They have argued, on the basis of previous qualitative studies, that "PT" is at the core of…

A medium-scale quantitative study (n = 90) found that 10-11-year-old pupils dealt with theory and evidence in notably different ways, depending on how the same science practical task was delivered. Under the auspices of a 2×2 part-randomised and part-quasi experimental design, pupils were asked to complete a brief, apparently simple task involving…