Selected research studies that explore the assumption that college science students operate at a formal cognitive level are presented in this information digest. Studies are reviewed that relate to the areas of: (1) formal thought (examining the relationship between measured formal thought and that required to understand formal college physical science concepts and also the relationship between formal-operational thought and conceptual difficulties in genetics problem solving); (2) reasoning (discussing the effects of various methods and formats of administering a Piagetian reasoning problem and exploring the hypothesis that formal reasoning is required to balance even simple chemical equations); and (3) integrated process skills (reporting that process skills in the laboratory could significantly improve process skill achievement). (ML)