SCIENTIFIC REASONING LEVELS IN PHYSICS EDUCATION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Scientific reasoning plays a fundamental role in high school science education, as it enables students to develop the cognitive skills necessary for understanding and analyzing scientific phenomena. In disciplines such as Physics, fostering this type of reasoning is essential for effective teaching and learning processes. This study aimed to assess the scientific reasoning levels of high school students in the central zone of Zapopan at the University of Guadalajara. To achieve this, the Scientific Reasoning Test in the Classroom was administered to a sample of 351 second-semester students from the afternoon shift across six high schools affiliated with the institution. The findings revealed no significant differences ( p = 0.667, p < 0.05) in scientific reasoning levels among 336 students, indicating a predominant reliance on empirical-inductive reasoning. These results underscore the need to integrate classroom strategies and activities that cultivate combinatorial and correlational thinking, as well as the ability to control variables, to promote higher levels of scientific reasoning.