Join us every other week for CLSE Seminar Series for presentations of research in teaching and learning! Scientific reasoning is integral in any scientific discipline. It is often regarded as a predictor for learning and hence is a key skill which students need to develop and apply in science. Our work is underpinned by Kuhn’s (2004) framework which defines scientific reasoning as the conscious intent to seek additional and/or new information with the purpose of improving knowledge and understanding. This framework forefronts theory-evidence coordination, an important cognitive process in science practices. Theory-evidence coordination occurs in laboratory work, when dealing with experimental data (evidence) and scientific claims (theory), as well as in the theoretical aspect, such as problem solving. In this study, we explore how freshman science students coordinate their self-generated theory and evidence in physics reasoning tasks as well as non-physics situations. The physics tasks constitute the topic on energy which is interdisciplinary in nature. The non-physics situations allude to general sciences rather than hinging on specific physics fundamentals. Also of interest are the students’ actions and decisions when faced with contradictory theory and evidence. The quality of the explanations generated during coordination is also gathered. Data were collected from written responses and individual interviews. An implication of this work is the use of scientific reasoning as an assessment tool, in the form of problem solving and frequent on-spot questions for summative and formative assessment respectively. Scientific reasoning may also be applied during experimental work, particularly in situations where there are data conflicts. Scientific reasoning comes into play when students must reconcile their theory in the light of the experimental results. Please RSVP by clicking the link below.