Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills in Primary Education: Validation of Challenges of Thinking Test

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The global demand for 21st century competencies raises critical thinking (CT) as a priority educational objective, which in turn projects the need for CT evaluation. The lack of CT assessment instruments for youngsters justifies the aim of this study: to develop a CT test for Primary Education and unveil its psychometric properties. The methodology follows the test development prescriptions through the elaboration of the six-skill CT test, the test application to primary sixth-graders and the confirmatory factor analysis on the answers. Starting from a 48-item test form, the empirical analysis confirms a six-factor structure, interpret the six empirical factors in face of the postulated CT skills, confirm a one-dimension structure for the whole test and for each of the six factors (except Comparison), and describe the goodness-of-fit psychometric parameters that support the reliability and validity of the 31-item test form. Finally, the properties, utility, limitations, and prospective improvements, developments and applications of the test for education and CT research are discussed.