A hypothetico‐deductive theory of science and learning

Abstract This article presents a simple, cognitive theory of science and learning. The first section the paper develops theory's two main propositions: (i) A wide range scientific activities rely heavily on one type reasoning, hypothetical thinking, (ii) reasoning is also useful to students for learning content. second taxonomy multiple‐choice questions that use thinking third tests using data from college biology course. As expected by theory, student responses 24 were consistent with one‐dimensional psychometric construct. Student explained 36% variance in exam grades. Several directions additional research are identified, including studying structure more detail, performing randomized, controlled experiments demonstrate causal relationship between learning, identifying relative contribution other factors success college.