Building Scientific Thinking Skillsin Latin American Adolescents

Introduction. Scientific thinking is an intentional cognitive process of knowledge application which consists of using evidence to revise an existing theory, and constitutes a very important part of inquiry-based learning. Evidence suggests that this essential skill for the 21st century citizen can be improved through specific training, and, under certain circumstances, it is possible to transfer its learning to different domains in everyday life. However, we cannot account for many studies on how scientific thinking develops during adolescence, especially in our region and through informal learning experiences. Aims. Our aim was to determine whether scientific camps that carry on entertaining and guided activities and hands-on experiments to answer questions improved certain scientific thinking skills, and whether the change, if it existed, depended on socioeconomic status (SES). Methodology. We designed an instrument to evaluate 290 argentinian adolescents before and after the intervention. It consisted of two pairs of questions that assessed a) to what extent an answer to a problem was methodological, and b) the generation of evidence for and against a statement. We used Bootstrapping techniques and a Cumulative Link Mixed Model to analyze the data. Results. We found that performance after the intervention was higher than before, and High-SES participants outperformed their Low-SES peers. Regarding the trained skills and the questions used for assessment, results indicate that in some questions participants systematically performed better than in others. We did not find a differential effect of SES. Discussion. In summary, our main conclusion is that certain scientific thinking skills can be trained and taught in adolescents during only a week of intensive training, regardless of participants’ SES