A Study of Children's Abilities to Reason with Basic Principles of Deductive Reasoning

The purpose of this investigation was to determine what differences existed in children's abilities to reason with six basic principles of deductive reasoning (1) at specific grade levels (4, 6, 8, & 10) and (2) for different types of reasoning (class and conditional). Although it was found that, in general, there was a remarkable similarity in the developmental patterns for the six principles in both types of reasoning, some interesting variations were revealed. These results are interpreted as providing useful data which permit inferences about the development of specific principles of class and conditional reasoning and the grade levels at which they might be taught.