Reflection ability requires knowing and using adequate terminology, interpreting, and appraising available information, and drawing valid conclusions (Paseka et al., 2021). Due to its conceptual proximity to the understanding of research as knowledge-based problem-solving, and the traditional link between research and teaching in university-based education, inquiry-learning opportunities (ILO; Rueß et al., 2016) are regarded as promising to support student teachers’ reflexivity (Fichten, 2010). This is considered key to teacher professionalization (KMK, 2019), but the assessment of reflection ability, and related to that, the investigation of the proposed benefit of ILO remains a challenge (Wessels et al., 2019). In this presentation, an approach will be presented, in which reflection is operationalized as generic aspect of Educational Research Literacy (ERL), that is the ability to access, comprehend, and reflect research information as well as apply the resulting conclusions to educational decisions (Groß Ophoff et al., 2017). While some evidence for the construct-related validity of this test instrument has been reported already, this contribution aims at investigating criterial validity, that is, whether the number of the seized ILO is of incremental validity for the prediction of teacher training students’ ERL and with it, their reflection ability. Findings from three studies will be reported. In Study 1, 104 German students in the field of education (mainly teacher training) participated during summer semester 2014. However, results indicated an inadequate operational validity of assessing specific ILO. In reference to the ILO taxonomy by Rueß et al. (2016), a compilation of 12 ILO was contrived and used as operationalization in Study 2 and Study 3. Study 2 was conducted online in 2018 (N = 126 education or social sciences students from various German higher education institutions). The new measure proved to incrementally contribute to the variance explanation of ERL: The more ILO were reportedly seized, the more research-proficient, and thereby reflexive study participants turned out to be (β = .08; p < .05). In Study 3 (2018-2021), 298 teacher training students at ten German universities were investigated (paper-surveys). Preliminary results corroborate with the findings from Study 2 (β = .25; p < .05). Even though the results give cause for optimism, cross-institutional intervention studies are needed to clarify whether these effects are not rather an expression of personal traits. In this line of reasoning, as early as 1999 Weinert fundamentally questioned, whether such higher-order thinking skills can be learned at all.

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