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Scientific reasoning competencies (SRC) are one part of science teachers' professional competencies. This study examines the contribution of three factors to the development of pre-service science teachers' SRC: the "amount of science education classes," the "amount of science classes" and the pre-service science teachers' "age." The factors "amount of science education classes" and "amount of science classes" have been operationalised in terms of ECTS credit points. N = 438 pre-service science teachers from six universities in Germany, Chile and Canada voluntarily and anonymously responded to an established multiple-choice instrument for assessing SRC, which has been developed by the authors and is available in German, Spanish and English. Multiple linear regression analyses show that the included factors explain a proportion of about 9% of the pre-service science teachers' SRC. The factor "amount of science classes" is the only significant predictor and can be seen as an indicator of learning science content knowledge. These findings support the assumption of science content knowledge being a prerequisite for developing pre-service science teachers' SRC.

Scientific reasoning competencies are relevant science competencies and therefore the development of assessment instruments for scientific reasoning competencies has become an integral part of science education research. However, some authors have questioned the validity of the instruments available so far, since their psychometric quality has not been evaluated satisfactorily. In this study, an established German multiple-choice instrument to assess scientific reasoning competencies has been translated into English and Spanish and the translated versions were evaluated based on the "translation," "review," "adjudication," "pretesting" and "documentation" (TRAPD) approach. Based on samples of German (N = 497), Australian (N = 103), and Chilean (N = 135) pre-service science teachers, statistical analyses (e.g. dimensionality and DIF analyses) provide psychometric evidence for test equivalence between the German and the translated versions of the instrument. Known groups comparisons provide evidence for the valid interpretation of the test scores as measures of scientific reasoning competencies. It is discussed that further studies might evaluate additional sources of validity evidence for the translated versions of the instrument, particularly focusing on cultural specificities. Independent of this need for further research, it is suggested that the three versions can be used to assess the scientific reasoning competencies of pre-service science teachers whose first language is English, German, or Spanish.