CLASSROOM
TEST OF SCIENTIFIC REASONING (CTSR)
by Anton Lawson, Emeritus Professor of Life Sciences at Arizona State
University as of 2013.
You can download
the multiple-choice CTSR (password-protected) at either of these locations: http://modelinginstruction.org/researchers/evaluation-instruments/
http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html
in the section on assessments.
Ask
jane.jackson@asu.edu for the password to open it.
Alternatively,
you can request the multiple-choice CTSR at https://sites.google.com/site/wsuinquiryinstruction/home/request-ctsr
You can record
scores, analyze them, and correlate them with the FCI, by downloading a zipped
spreadsheet called assessssv5b.zip at http://modelinginstruction.org,
under the ÔresearchÕ tab. Prof. James Vesenka developed it.
Graded out of
13, the CTSR maps to Piagetian categories: 0-4, concrete reasoners; 5-7 early
transitional; 8-10 late transitional; 11-13, formal.
You can see
graphs of national norms
at each grade (7 to 12) for the
CTSR at https://sites.google.com/site/wsuinquiryinstruction/home/thinking-skills-national-norms
or in Jacqueline
OÕDonnellÕs MasterÕs degree thesis, which you can download at
http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html
in the section on assessments.
Jacqueline
OÕDonnellÕs 33-page thesis, Creation of National Norms for Scientific
Thinking Skills É, is a study of CTSR data on ~5500
students. She found that more than 50% of students in grades seven through nine
are concrete thinkers and more than 85% of students graduating from high school
are not formal thinkers. You can use these data to track thinking skills
development of individual students, classes, and grade levels. The data can
help you determine interventions (e.g., CASE) to improve studentsÕ abilities.
You can submit
your studentsÕ CTSR data at https://sites.google.com/site/wsuinquiryinstruction/home/ctsr-data-entry-form
or at http://goo.gl/xzKBd
References
on classroom use of the multiple-choice CTSR:
* Interpreting FCI scores: Normalized
gain, pre-instruction scores, and scientific reasoning ability, by Vincent P.
Coletta and Jeffrey A. Phillips. Am. J. Phys. 73, 12, Dec. 2005.
http://myweb.lmu.edu/jphillips/per/ajp-12_05.pdf Others at http://myweb.lmu.edu/jphillips/per/
* Using Cognitive Acceleration Materials
to Develop Pre-service TeachersÕ Reasoning and Pedagogical Expertise, by Nathan
Moore, Jacqueline OÕDonnell, Dennis Poirier. 2012 ASQ
* Scientific Literacy: Resurrecting the
Phoenix with Thinking Skills, by John C. Deming, Jacqueline R. OÕDonnell and
Christopher J. Malone. Science
Educator, Winter 2012 Vol. 21, no. 2.
For the above
two articles and more resources, email Nathan Moore <nmoore@winona.edu>.
See also Dr. MooreÕs article: http://course1.winona.edu/nmoore/reasoning_ability_CASE.pdf
* Lawson, A.E.
(2001). Promoting Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in College Biology.
Bioscene 27(1)
March. Pages 13-24. Figure 2 is a
graph of pre-test & posttest Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (CTSR)
scores of 514 college students (non-science majors in Anton LawsonÕs course).
The multiple-choice version was used, and the maximum score is 13. The gains
were HUGE, although no quantities are cited. From Figure 2, we calculated the
pretest mean to be ~6.8 and posttest to be ~9.7. The most frequent CTSR score improved from 7 to 11. Table 2 is a list of theories (we would
call most of them models) and central questions raised in the course.
ÒBasic Theories for Introductory BiologyÓ is a companion to ÒPromoting Creative and
Critical Thinking Skills in College BiologyÓ, by Anton E. Lawson. This
unpublished paper elaborates on Table 2 in that 2001 publication. Dr. Lawson kindly contributed it in
2013. Download both articles at http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html
in the section called "Research Results for K-14 teachers".
Free-response
versions of the CTSR:
A free-response
version makes grading more cumbersome, but you might get deeper
insights into
your students' thinking than if you use the multiple-choice version. Two
FREE-RESPONSE versions of Anton
(Tony) Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning (CTSR) are on the ASU Modeling
Instruction website, on the webpage called "Weblinks for Modelers":
http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html
They are in the
section on Assessment.
The password to
open them is the same as for the multiple-choice version.
The two versions
are:
a) 12 items, includes combinatorial reasoning. This version is
in Tony Lawson's 1995 textbook: SCIENCE TEACHING AND DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING
(Appendix F).
b) 10 items,
includes combinatorial reasoning.
This version was used in Modeling Instruction as early as 1993, and I
think that Malcolm Wells used it in the 1980s, for he took Anton
"Tony" Lawson's "methods of science teaching" courses at
ASU. (Tony Lawson's test has evolved since he developed it in the 1970's.)
If you took a
mechanics Modeling Workshop prior to 2010, it is in the back of your modeling
manual.
How
to interpret scores on the CTSR (any version):
a) Anton Lawson discusses scientific thinking skills in his
1995 textbook:
SCIENCE TEACHING
AND DEVELOPMENT OF THINKING (also a 2002 edition).
See
chapter 2: Patterns of Thinking by Scientists and by Adolescents.
See pages
444 & 445: scoring the CTSR (the 1995 free-response version).
b) Download Curriculum
Analysis Taxonomies
(CAT), by Shayer & Adey, at the ASU Modeling Instruction website, on the
"Weblinks for Modelers" webpage, in the section: "Research
Results for K-14 teachers" (7 pages, 15 thinking skills, Piagetian).
http://modeling.asu.edu/modeling/weblinks.html
(This webpage
was updated in August 2014 by Jane Jackson.)