Science and technology students in China and the US have a long way to go before they can develop a deep understanding of scientific reasoning, researchers have found.

As part of a research of Physics of the Oho State University, gave 5,760 freshmen in three US and four Chinese universities two tests to evaluate content knowledge and another to assess scientific reasoning.

Though Chinese students did better than their US counterparts in the first two tests that emphasized on learning facts, both groups “scored relatively poorly” on the third test, designed to assess their ability to systematically explore a problem, the results showed.

Lei Bao said that the finding challenges conventional wisdom, which holds that teaching science facts will improve students’ reasoning ability. “Our study shows that, contrary to what many people would expect, even when students are thoroughly taught the facts, they don’t necessarily develop the reasoning skills they need to succeed,” Bao said. “Because students need both knowledge and reasoning, we need to explore teaching methods that target both. ”

The current education systems and assessment of China and the US do not emphasize on deep understanding of scientific reasoning in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics（STEM）, the study concluded.

Bao explained that reasoning is a good skill for everyone to possess-not just scientists and engineers. The general public also need good reasoning skills in order to correctly interpret scientific findings and think rationally. STEM students need to excel at scientific reasoning in order to handle open-ended real-world tasks in their future careers in science and engineering.

How to boost scientific reasoning? The study suggests that educators must go beyond teaching science facts if they hope to boost students’ reasoning ability. Bao points to inquiry-based learning, where students work in groups, question teachers and design their own investigations. This teaching technique is growing in popularity worldwide.

1．According to the research, we know that           .

       A．Chinese students and their US counterparts did poorly in the first two tests

       B．Chinese students did better than their US counterparts in all the three tests

       C．Chinese students did better than their US counterparts in the first two tests

       D．US students did better than their Chinese counterparts in the third test

2．The conventional wisdom holds that        .

       A．the more facts students are taught, the more reasoning skills they will acquire

       B．the general public also need reasoning skills to interpret scientific findings

       C．to boost students’ reasoning ability, educators must explore teaching methods

       D．the current education systems are harmful to improve students’ reasoning ability

3．Based on the study, what will be done to improve students’ reasoning ability?

       A．To improve teaching techniques.

       B．To better students’ learning conditions,

       C．To teach students more science facts.

       D．To offer students more tests.

4．The underlined phrase “excel at ”in Paragraph 6 probably means        .

       A．be worse at         B．be better at          C．be enthusiastic about         D．be inferior to

5．Which of the following is correct according to the passage?

       A．Little needs to be done to develop students’ reasoning ability in the US.

       B．Only scientists and engineers need reasoning abilities.

       C．Two tests were carried out to evaluate students’ scientific reasoning.

       D．Inquiry-based learning is a good way to boost students’ reasoning ability.