Constituent elements of scientific thinking development of future teachers

Abstract

This paper presents some of the constitutive elements of the development of scientific thinking in future teachers, students, in initial professional training. Defining aspects of scientific thinking are presented from the perspective of various understandings, as the ability to formulate a problem based on observations, to determine possible or probable, significant relationships between a set of given facts, and to determine which observations can be considered reasonable evidence to confirm or refute formulated hypotheses. The paper then goes on to present an experimental sequence devoted to academic debate as one of the building blocks of the development of scientific thinking in initial teacher training. Eighty-four students in the field of Educational Sciences, in their 1st and 3rd year of study, participated in the experiment. The conclusions revealed are: the transition from scientific thinking to critical thinking and, subsequently, to the use of everyday thinking occurs in the stages of elaboration and application of arguments in a debate or discussion, where, initially, students use scientific thinking to bring arguments and evidence from their field of study, using empirical data and recognized theories to support their position, being accompanied by the exhaustion of scientific arguments, which are based on scientific knowledge.