Reasoning Skills
The importance of reasoning skills cannot be overstated. Education research papers examine reasoning skills and their importance in the educational process. Quite frequently, students need to explore the psychology behind reasoning skills and our writers can explicate this for you in a custom written project that makes reasoning, rationality and the skills involved in coming to a conclusion crystal clear.
Reasoning skills are used in everyday life. People use them in the following order:
- To take given information
- Compare that to what is already known
- Come to a new conclusion
Reasoning skills allow us to make a decision between two choices, often when there is no clear-cut immediate answer. By being able to reason through the numerous alternatives, a person can come up with the best decision.
The ability to reason is one of the defining characteristics of being human. Psychologists have identified four major areas of reasoning skills: spatial reasoning, logical reasoning, numerical reasoning, and verbal reasoning. These are all aspects of higher order thinking skills, and not every person has strengths in all four areas. Engineers, for example, are strong in spatial reasoning, while writers are often very good with verbal reasoning.
Philosopher Matthew Lipman, during his long teaching career at Columbia University, often observed undeveloped reasoning skills in his many students. He developed the school of Philosophy for Children, teaching logic in order to strengthen various reasoning skills in students. In contrast, Tim van Gelder, who currently works in researching reasoning skills, has developed a theory of informal reasoning skills, finding ways to engage students in deliberately practicing reasoning skills in order to develop their abilities.