operations or thinking is a term used to describe a posited stage of cognitive development beyond Piaget's final stage of formal operations
"…Arlin (1975) explored the idea that whilst formal operations provided the ability to engage in successful problem-solving, further development was needed to be an effective problem-finder – development that might be considered a fifth stage. This skill is clearly important in scientific work: a key feature of research is in identifying, and conceptualising, potentially productive questions." (Taber, 2020)
"It was also asked whether acquisition of formal operations was sufficient to treat knowledge as non-absolute, or to cope with contradictions (Kramer, 1983). This is especially relevant to school science in contexts where it is considered important that students not only learn some science, but also learn about the nature of science (Taber, 2017). …A modern understanding of science suggests that a naive positivism is misguided, and that all scientific findings should be seen as potentially provisional and open to reconsideration in the light of either new evidence or a new perspective to reconceptualise evidence. That is, scientific knowledge is not absolute, and is theoretical (and so reliant on some commitments that have to be assumed a priori and cannot be demonstrated) …scientific results are seldom unequivocal, as they are subject to both limitations of measurement and observation, and sometimes human error, and, moreover, nature is often more subtle and complex than the models being used to conceptualise and design studies. Scientists often have to deal with contradiction, and fuzzy data, and be able to make judgements about the extent to which robust conclusions can reasonably be drawn in the face of imperfect…data sets." (Taber, 2020)
"…in the Twenty First Century, the school curriculum in many countries has been reformed to ask students to appreciate a more nuanced understanding of scientific enquiry that forms provisional knowledge from messy data-sets, and to engage in debate over socio-scientific issues drawing upon diverse value-based standpoints: that is, activities requiring what has been characterised 'post-formal' thinking. (Taber, 2020)"
[Please be aware that a word may have different nuances, or even a different meaning, according to context.]« Back to Index
