Do you specifically design labs to teach scientific reasoning and/or critical thinking skills? If so, what do you do? The OPTYCs PER-Interest Group hosted a discussion and sharing session on scientific reasoning and critical thinking in labs. The session started with a brief review of what PER has to say about scientific reasoning and skill-based labs, and a review of the assessment instruments available to measure scientific reasoning. We then opened the discussion to participants to share their favorite activities. 

One viewpoint from PER related to critical thinking in labs can be found in: Evaluating instructional labs' use of deliberate practice to teach critical thinking skills, Smith and Holmes, Phys.Rev.PER 16, 020150  DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.020150