Students' evidence-based reasoning was examined across two studies. In Study 1, students were asked to evaluate newspaper excerpts including anecdotal, descriptive, correlational, and causal evidence provided in support of causal claims as well as to justify their quality ratings for two of these excerpts. In Study 2, students' justifications for…

Critical thinking is embedded in national university graduate outcomes and included in international bodies' statements on higher education. At the same time, there are tensions surrounding critical thinking in higher education, such as its commodification, Eurocentrism, and relationship to rapidly digitalising cultures. Drawing from the…

Scientific argumentation skills are a key component of science learning practices needed by students in the 21st century. Where the essence of scientific argumentation is to support the argument with evidence and reasoning and then refute the claims and evidence of the opponent's argument. Supporting arguments with evidence and reasoning can be…

Previous research on open-mindedness, whether by critical thinking researchers, philosophers of education, or intellectual virtue theorists, has not sufficiently addressed the challenge posed by cognitive bias, particularly motivated reasoning. How can students develop their open-mindedness when they are often motivated to preserve their prior…

This paper examines the relation between epistemology and higher education. We shall start by briefly examining three classical texts on the understanding of knowledge at universities, as well as noting some others, and go on to sketch a version of our own. Our argument is as follows: the world is such that the relationship between the university…

Complex thinking is a desired competency in 21st-century university students, so technology-based teaching and learning strategies must be carefully considered when training them in complex reasoning skills. This systematic review aims to map research on the use of teaching and learning strategies supported by technology to enhance complex…

If we admit that students must be prepared for life and work in increasingly culturally-diverse and ever changing contexts through core curricula which are the competences that must be prioritized? What competences are 'strong candidates' to be considered as trans-regional and can lead to inclusive excellence in higher education? Does, this,…

As the popularity of online education continues to rise, many colleges and universities are interested in how to best deliver course content for online learners. This study explores the ways in which taking courses through an online medium impacts student engagement, utilizing data from the National Survey of Student Engagement. Data was analyzed…

The ability to reason about numbers in relative terms is essential for quantitative literacy, which is necessary for studying academic disciplines and for critical citizenship. However, the ability to reason with proportions is known to be difficult to learn and to take a long time to develop. To determine how well higher education applicants can…

Appeals to reform science education by policy makers are not new phenomena. To be sure, while science reform efforts have been ongoing occurrences for nearly six decades, perpetual educational reform efforts as a whole have been evolving and gaining momentum in number for more than a century. The general motivation for continual reform appears to…