Further study of experimenting abilities shows that they are closely related to the formal thinking abilities described by Piaget. A correlation of +.73 between the two sets of abilities was found in one study (Padilla, Okey and Dillashaw, 1983). In fact, one of the ways that Piaget decided whether someone was formal or concrete was to ask that person to design an experiment to solve a problem. We also know that most early adolescents and many young adults have not yet reached their full formal reasoning capacity (Chiapetta, 1976). One study found only 17% of seventh graders and 34% of twelfth graders fully formal (Renner, Grant, and Sutherland, 1978).
What have we learned about teaching integrated science processes? We cannot expect students to excel at skills they have not experienced or been allowed to practice. Teachers cannot expect mastery of experimenting skills after only a few practice sessions. Instead students need multiple opportunities to work with these skills in different content areas and contexts. Teachers need to be patient with those having difficulties, since there is a need to have developed formal thinking patterns to successfully "experiment."