The Development of Thinking Skills Through Science Education: A Five-Stage Theory
Purpose
The primary purpose of this paper is to propose a five-stage theory of the development of scientific thinking skills and to present data that support the existence of a fifith stage. Implications of the five-stage theory for science teaching will be discussed. Because the current theory has its roots in Piaget's four-stage theory of intellectual development, I will begin with a brief overview of that theory.