Prior education of Open University students contributes to their capability in critical thinking

Abstract

The focus of this study is on Open University students’ entry-level critical thinking skills. The research questions were: how are students’ age, and level and discipline of previous education related to critical thinking skills; is the level and discipline of previous education connected to the accuracy of students’ self-evaluation of their critical thinking skills? Totally 138 students participated altogether. Critical thinking skills were measured by the constructed-response task of the Collegiate Learning Assessment and retrospective self-evaluation scale. The results showed that students’ critical thinking skills, as measured by both the constructed-response task and the self-evaluation scale, differed statistically between groups of different educational levels. The students with higher education degrees had the most developed critical thinking skills. Furthermore, the students who had previous higher education studies in hard sciences succeeded better in critical thinking than those of soft sciences. Between age-groups there were no differences in critical thinking. Students with prior higher education studies evaluated their skills more accurately. A variety of teaching and learning methods and ample feedback are needed in order to learn critical thinking. In addition, to learn metacognitive skills, students should rehearse self-evaluation skills.