Student views concerning evidence and the expert in reasoning a socio‐scientific issue and personal epistemology

This study investigated their views concerning evidence and expert opinion of 10th‐grade students, accessed by an open‐ended questionnaire in the context of a socio‐scientific issue: the cause of flood disasters, and personal epistemology identified by the Learning Environment Preference Questionnaire (LEP). Students' responses to the open‐ended questions showed that when thinking about the flood issue, most students rely heavily on direct and numerical data to draw their conclusions, while experts represented a source of conclusive information. The LEP scores indicated that, in terms of epistemological development, students were mostly at the stage of the ‘multiplicists’ in Perry's model. The statistical analysis suggested that view towards evidence and expert were associated with personal epistemology.     

Deductive reasoning: in the eye of the beholder

This study examines ways of approaching deductive reasoning of people involved in mathematics education and/or logic. The data source includes 21 individual semi-structured interviews. The data analysis reveals two different approaches. One approach refers to deductive reasoning as a systematic step-by-step manner for solving problems, both in mathematics and in other domains. The other approach emphasizes formal logic as the essence of the deductive inference, distinguishing between mathematics and other domains in the usability of deductive reasoning. The findings are interpreted in light of theory and practice.

Patterns of student writing in a critical thinking course: A quantitative analysis

Two studies assessed student writing in a critical thinking course. The first study examined initial and final versions of a term paper. Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC) analyses of essays revealed significant differences in linguistic variables and some differences in cognitive variables. The second study examined student essays at the beginning and end of the semester. Taken together, the studies indicate that students express themselves with less tentativeness at the end of the semester, and are consistent with the suggestion that students move from relativism to commitment during the course of a semester. In addition, the results indicate that the LIWC may detect differences between different writing genres.     

排句诗体形式,巧构二难推理难环套--对张淼森《挑剔姑娘》讽刺诗逻辑分析

从“大逻辑”思想出发,以新视觉对张淼森先生现代讽刺诗《挑剔姑娘》进行了逻辑分析尝试,指出在诗中巧妙运用逻辑推理,能较好地刻画人物的个性,善意地讽刺现实生活中的错误倾向,并将哲理寓于其中,给他人留点空间而双方有利。从而论证了诗中也有逻辑的观点。