Thirty Great Ways to Mess Up a Critical Thinking Test

Abstract

Finals week already! At Michigan State in 1967 the general education course was called' 'Logic. In 1989 at California State University Fullerton we call it Logic. Although I would now describe my goal in both cases as teaching critical thinking (CT), so much is different: my conceptualization of CT and its relationship to logic has changed, my curricular and pedagogical ideas about how CT is best taught, and even my sense of why it is important to teach CT. Yet one thing remains: then and now at MSU and at CSUF we give final exams. And exams are what this paper is about. Specifically CT exams. Like anyone's, my CT course boldly assumes (1) CT can be learned, (2) CT can be assessed, and (3) CT can be taught. I sleep easier these days knowing that (1) is probably true in spite of anything I might do in the classroom. I pray (3) is true, and I most certainly conduct myself on campus as if it were. Imagine the budgetary bloodshed should the campus curriculum committee demand empirical evidence! And, I worry about how to defend (3). One sure fire defense would show how much students have improved in CT as a result of taking my course. But that leads right to assumption (2)-that CT can be assessed. This little paper is a tongue-in-cheek look at the practical aspects of framing a CT assessment tool-a chore each of us undertakes whenever we prepare a final examination. If you follow the advice given here-advice hard won through personal experience, trial and error, especially erroryou will be able to construct a truly dreadful CT test. Make no mistakes. This abysmal goal, I'm confident, is achievable. I know because I've hit pay dirt a few times myself. Having elsewhere defended multiple-choice CT assessment strategies, this venerable mode of assessment will come in for special attention in a moment, but let's start with basic seven rules which apply to both essay testing (ET) and multiple-choice testing (MCT).