Critical Thinking In Higher Education Research Articles

Evaluating Critical and Creative Thinking (CRITHNK): Student Perspectives on General Education Competencies through Mixed Methods Analysis

In today's educational landscape, fostering critical thinking (CT) skills is paramount for students to navigate modern complexities. This study examines the importance of CT in higher education, drawing from seminal works such as those by John Dewey. It evaluates a Critical and Creative Thinking (CRITHNK) course at De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde, known for its innovative initiatives. Numerous studies highlight a gap in CT skill development among undergraduates. Quantitative analysis assesses students' perceptions of the CRITHNK course's contribution to CT skill development, aligning with Commission on Higher Education (CHED) outcomes. Qualitative inquiry explores its impact on intellectual growth, personal responsibility, and practical skills, gathering student recommendations for improvement. Results indicate students perceive the CRITHNK course as highly effective in developing CT and related competencies, aligning with CHED outcomes. However, moderate variability suggests individual differences, suggesting targeted interventions for enhancement. This study identifies areas for curriculum improvement, providing insights for faculty development and enhancing teaching practices. It contributes to the discourse on CT in higher education, emphasizing its role in addressing global challenges and fostering community-driven change.

Transferable Best Practices and Mutual Learning Opportunities Between Instructional Design in Higher Education and the Corporate World

Instructional design facilitates effective learning in higher education and workplace training contexts. This paper examines the crossover between instructional design approaches in these settings. It identifies core transferable practices like defined objectives, assessment alignment, and active learning grounded in learning theories and research-based models. Differential practices suited to the unique contexts are also explored, including critical thinking in higher education and rapid iterative design in corporate learning. Finally, mutual learning opportunities are presented for how each domain can adapt select practices from the other to enhance their instructional design effectiveness, such as higher education integrating more experiential learning and corporate training focusing more on critical thinking development.

Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Faculty and Student Perspectives within an Outcome-Based Framework in Oman

This study investigates the pedagogical integration and application of critical thinking skills within outcome-based classroom settings at a higher learning institution in Oman by addressing the complementing and contrasting perspectives of the faculty and students. The research employed online surveys to gather data from 74 faculty members and 877 students. The research’s finding highlights that faculty members perceived highly that they integrate critical thinking skills in their classroom teaching and learning, however, students’ perceptions regarding its integration varied. Both groups agree on the importance of emphasizing critical thinking in Omani educational environments. The findings of the study revealed that students showed preference for test questions that tackles their critical thinking skills over rote memorization. However, they may not completely agree with the current methods used to assess critical thinking skills. The students’ perception resonates with broader pedagogical discussions.

Exploring the Impact of Teacher Role Changes in the Flipped Classroom Model on the Critical Thinking Abilities of University Students

This study investigates the impact of teacher role changes within the flipped classroom model on the critical thinking abilities of Canadian university students. Employing a mixed-methods research design, the study combines quantitative data from pre- and post-tests using the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) with qualitative insights from student and teacher interviews. The quantitative analysis revealed statistically significant improvements in students’ critical thinking abilities in flipped classroom settings, particularly in analysis, inference, and evaluation skills, indicating a medium to large effect size (η² = 0.111). Qualitative findings underscore the importance of increased student engagement, enhanced learning environments, the value of collaborative learning, and the pivotal role of teacher support and feedback in facilitating critical thinking development. Integrating these findings, the study offers a multifaceted view of how strategic pedagogical shifts—specifically, adopting more facilitative and supportive roles by teachers—can significantly enhance critical thinking in higher education. This research contributes to the literature on educational strategies, advocating for the broader adoption of flipped classroom models as a means to foster active, student-centered learning and critical thinking skills.

Postdigital Teaching of Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Non-Instrumentalised Sociality and Interactivity

AbstractIn the wake of the digital revolution, the digital teaching of critical thinking takes established forms in higher education. Its technologies are productively understood in postdigital terms as a diverse, inconsistent and cobbled-together collection of platforms and software. This paper considers the limits, problems and advantages of this messy and layered amalgam of technologies. Examining them shows that the benefits of digital critical thinking teaching are frequently bound up with digitisations’ support of sociability and interactivity. This is counterbalanced by difficulties and limits encountered in digitised teaching of critical thinking, often framed as deficiencies in students, teachers, institutions or technologies. However, following Bernard Stiegler’s work and postdigital scholarship, these distinctions can be countered to understand critical thinking technologies as performed within social, technical and psychic milieus processes. Stiegler’s emphasis on temporality allows for a critical analysis of the constraints of digital forms of sociality and interactivity. His notion of otium suggests that techniques cultivating interruptions and layering in digital critical thinking technologies engage their negativity and enable temporal zones in which reflective thought can emerge.

Critical thinking in higher education: a bibliometric analysis

PurposeCritical thinking (CT) in higher education institutions (HEIs) is rarely examined using bibliometric methods to provide a better reference path for future research. This study aims to provide a broad survey of the bibliometric literature on CT in HEIs.Design/methodology/approachCompiled from the Scopus database, there were 670 articles published from 2018 to 2022 analyzed in the study. VOSviewer software was also used to analyze co-authorship, co-occurrence and citation.FindingsThe results showed that the CT research literature was mainly published in the US However, the highest number of citations was from Australian authors. The most frequent keywords were CT, skills and higher education.Research limitations/implicationsDue to the high variability of assessment strategies for each study, the current study suggests that further research focuses on the global assessment model of CT in HEIs.Originality/valueTo the best of the research’s knowledge, the study on CT in higher education with bibliometric analysis is rarely explored.

Knowing Myself

In recent decades, critical thinking in higher education has garnered more attention, due the prevailing sense that it is essential for the development of critical citizens. However, critical thinking largely appears to be characterized as originating from a Global Northern philosophical tradition and embodying abilities that lead to academic success. Perpetuating this hegemony of regional knowledge as universal devalues knowledge traditions of the Global South and often leads to ‘othering’ of knowledges and ways of knowing rooted in their cultures and philosophies, delimits the scope of critical thinking and makes it challenging for the subject to resonate with its learners. This research examines the critical thinking curriculum in British transnational higher education in Ghana, critically interrogating the student learning experience and the wider issue of cultural imperialism enacted by the Global North through transnational higher education, and offers some suggestions derived from participant interviews to reimagine the curriculum.

Critical and reflective teaching in higher education. The case study of Poland

The concept of “critical thinking” has received much attention lately and therefore has been subject to a variety of definitions pertaining to different traditions from philosophy and educational psychology and logic. The aim of the article is to provide an insight into how critical thinking is conceptualized and implemented in Poland. The article is based on extensive literature review and secondary data from the Polish Qualification Framework and curricula from selected HEIs (higher education institutions). While the article is indicative and exploratory it points at the structural limitations and windows of opportunities to implement critical thinking. It starts with an overview of how critical thinking in conceptualized in Polish literature pointing at a discrepancy between a Western and indigenous approach. Following it provided an overview of how critical thinking is positioned in Polish curricula. The subsequent part of the article challenges and windows of opportunity to implement critical thinking in higher education. In the concluding section several recommendations are drafted.

University EFL Teachers’ Perceptions Of Critical Thinking Barriers In Higher Education

This study aims to uncover university EFL teachers’ perceptions regarding the barriers to implementing critical thinking in higher education. Due to the scarcity of previous studies in the Moroccan context, understanding the challenges that prevent critical thinking from being implemented effectively requires recognizing the difficulties that EFL teachers encounter in the process of its integration. This study was conducted with a qualitative design. Specifically, data were collected using semi-structured interviews with university EFL professors affiliated with different faculties and higher education institutions in Morocco. Interview data was analyzed by deploying thematic analysis. Results indicate that university EFL teachers consider four factors to be the main challenges of implementing critical thinking in higher education. These factors include students, cultural, educational, and class size-related constraints. Furthermore, the interviews’ results provide feasible suggestions to overcome critical thinking barriers in Moroccan higher education.

Critical Reflection in Students’ Critical Thinking Teaching and Learning Experiences

This manuscript deals with the problematic question of how students’ critical reflection is manifested when reflecting on their experiences of learning critical thinking in higher education. Critical reflection is understood as the fusion of personal experience with new knowledge and study content, leading to a new understanding and a new sense of the meaning of oneself, one’s learning, studies, and phenomena in the wider environment. A qualitative research method was chosen to reveal the extent of critical reflection. Sixteen students participated in the research: aged 19–49 at the time of the research, from six higher education institutions, representing eight fields of study. A semi-structured interview was chosen for the research and the qualitative content analysis method for the research data analysis, allowing for valid conclusions upon an objective and systematic review of the transcribed interview text. The findings show that in reflections on the critical thinking teaching and learning experiences, students emphasize the process of interaction with others and interaction with themselves, focusing not on the external object but rather on the subject—the thinking person—and their relation to their own thinking. In reflection on teaching and learning, students emphasize applying theoretical knowledge in practice, modelled by the teacher.

ANALISIS BIBLIOMETRIK: FOKUS PENELITIAN CRITICAL THINKING DALAM PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA (2017 – 2022)

Critical thinking can be formed in several ways, one of which is through the process of learning mathematics. This study aims to determine trends and research focus related to critical thinking in mathematics learning. A total of 327 data were obtained from database dimensions. VOSviewer software is used to display visualizations based on bibliographic pairs and events with keywords by the author. Researchers use qualitative research methods. The analysis technique used is descriptive bibliometric analysis and bibliometric visualization method. The results of the study show that the countries of Indonesia and the United States, the Indonesian University of Education and Padang State University, the "journal of physics conference series" and documents (Mutakinati et al., 2018) have been the most influential on critical thinking in learning mathematics in the last five years . The research focus is divided into four of them, namely: 1) STEM approach; 2) Learning with Problem-based learning; 3) Critical thinking in higher education; 4) learning outcomes and creative thinking. STEM is not directly related to geometry material, and problem-based learning is also not directly connected to independent learning.

Assessing higher education students' critical thinking with the PENCRISAL test - Portuguese short version: a psychometric study.

The development of critical thinking in higher education is fundamental, preparing students to think well, find explanations, make decisions and solve problems. Given the importance of its promotion, its assessment is crucial, since the two are inseparable. Moreover, the number of instruments that are validated to assess critical thinking in the Portuguese language and culture are scarce. We present the validation psychometric study of the PENCRISAL test (short version) to the Portuguese language, a critical thinking assessment test for higher education students, designed and validated in Spain (full and short version), which presents adequate reliability and validity psychometric characteristics to assess key-dimensions of critical thinking. A sample of 225 Portuguese higher education students from three universities (two public and one private) performed a reduced version of the PANCRISAL test. The results obtained allowed replicating the Spanish reduced version in Portugal (only changing one of the six items), and the confirmatory factorial analysis permits to identify two factors intercorrelated, legitimizing the combination of the six items in a global score. This short version can be used as a screening test, and its potential is pointed out to assess students critical thinking to support teaching and research in higher education.

Developing Critical Thinking in Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Critical thinking has been difficult to develop in technical and vocational education and training, where acquiring practical skills is often the priority. This study looks at whether tried-and-tested methods for developing critical thinking in higher education are also effective in this educational context. To test this, an intervention was carried out as part of a compulsory, semester-long “Basic Communication Skills” class for 149 first year engineering students. This involved linking the expected learning outcomes for the course to a series of sub-skills comprising an updated definition of critical thinking. Furthermore, a set of strategies promoting active participation among students was also implemented. The proposed methodology led to improved levels of critical thinking when compared to traditional teaching methods. It was found that lessons characterized as interactive, dynamic, and encouraging active student participation facilitate the teacher’s job in the classroom and improve the development of critical thinking in a specific technical and vocational education context.

Conceptualizations and instructional strategies on critical thinking in higher education: A systematic review of systematic reviews

AimThis systematic review identified systematic reviews of quantitative and qualitative empirical studies on the promotion and development of critical thinking in higher education students that allowed us to answer the following research questions: (1) What are the main definitions of critical thinking found in systematic reviews of critical thinking in higher education, and what are their similarities and differences? and (2) What are the most commonly used teaching strategies in higher education for teaching or promoting critical thinking, and how effective have they proven to be?MethodsSystematic reviews were selected according to the guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analyzes (PRISMA, 2020) and the eligibility criteria proposed by the PICOS strategy (population, interventions, comparators, outcomes and study design), based on 23 records of scientifically identified registers in the Journal Citation Report databases of the Web of Science.ResultsThe bibliometric and systematic search of reviews of empirical studies on the topic allowed the selection of five systematic reviews. The results highlighted that conceptually critical thinking is related to both dispositions and skills, and that although there is no consensus on its definition, it is established that it is a higher-order cognitive process that can be trained. However, the results show that more studies have been conducted considering critical thinking as a skill than as a disposition, that the immersion approach has been widely used, and that some instructional strategies have shown greater effectiveness than others when the disciplines are evaluated independently.DiscussionDespite the relative consensus on the importance of critical thinking for professional development in higher education, this review highlights some difficulties in conceptualizing critical thinking, in the relationship between dispositions and skills, and in its assessment in academic disciplines.

Critical thinking in higher education: taking Stiegler’s counsel on the digital milieu

ABSTRACT Critical thinking is embedded in national university graduate outcomes and included in international bodies’ statements on higher education. At the same time, there are tensions surrounding critical thinking in higher education, such as its commodification, Eurocentrism, and relationship to rapidly digitalising cultures. Drawing from the philosopher Bernard Stiegler’s writings on human originary technicity, this paper argues that critical thinking takes different forms according to technical and cultural milieus. For Stiegler, human originary technicity makes prosthesis the human condition: we are biological and technical, both organic and inorganic matter. Reasoning, reflection, and evaluation are relative to the technologies of memory that form everyday and intellectual culture. Stiegler’s analysis articulates how digitalisation threatens and protects reasoning and reflection, enabling the demonstration of how critical thinking takes specific forms in digitalised societies. The paper proposes prosthetic critical thinking as a practice that can embrace differing understandings of critical thinking, namely as skills and dispositions associated with reasoning and as the practice of critical pedagogy. The resulting understanding of critical thinking shows it to be a plural, inclusive, and contingent practice relevant to higher education.

Methodologies for Fostering Critical Thinking Skills from University Students’ Points of View

Developing critical thinking skills appears to be a challenge for higher education institutions. However, little is known about the students’ points of view regarding the methodologies they consider to foster the development of this competence. To answer this question, a total of 263 Spanish university students participated in this study and were asked what they understood by critical thinking and the methodologies they considered to be the most effective for developing it. The results indicated that, based on students’ points of view, there were six methodologies that mainly contributed to developing critical thinking: Debates, project-based learning, practices in real contexts, doing research, cooperative learning, and case studies. These results were unanimous regardless of the student’s understanding of critical thinking: Analyzing/organizing, reasoning/arguing, questioning/asking oneself, evaluating, taking a position/taking a decision, compromising/acting. These findings have important theoretical and practical implications for teachers and educational institutions in relation to the development of critical thinking in higher education.

Investigating critical thinking in higher education in Latin America: Acknowledging an epistemic disjuncture

Critical thinking (CT) in higher education (HE) has been widely investigated in Western countries. Most of the research on CT has conceived it as a higher order thinking skill with implications for learning processes. CT has also been connected with critical pedagogies, an approach that seems particularly attuned with the Latin American region. Through a systematic literature review, this article maps the scholarship on CT in HE in Latin America (LATAM). Findings point to a local character of the research on CT that heavily relies on cognitive psychology traditions. It is proposed that the scholarship on CT in LATAM is characterised by an epistemic disjuncture that favours theories and methodologies produced in the Global North overshadowing well-recognised traditions of critical pedagogies in the region. We conclude that research on CT in the region is missing an opportunity to develop powerful features that are especially fitting for LATAM’s geo-historic context.

Investigating critical thinking in higher education in Latin America: Acknowledging an epistemic disjuncture

Investigating critical thinking in higher education in Latin America: Acknowledging an epistemic disjuncture

Implementation of Project Based Learning (PjBL) in Critical Student’s Character Development Oriented

The Distance Learning Process is a solution to the Covid-19 pandemic situation which is considered more effective and efficient, but there are various kinds of problems, not only educators and students, but also parents. The problems faced are the difficulty of supervising students who lack honesty and discipline in doing and collecting assignments, supervising students who do not focus on learning, difficult to adapt which make character development less effective. The specific purpose of the research is to produce a Project Based Learning model that can improve students' ability to solve problems, and it is hoped that students will be more active, independent and responsible. The method used is Action Research to produce certain products, and test the effectiveness of the product through various stages and validation with the following steps: 1) planning, 2) acting, 3) monitoring, and 4) reflecting. The results of the study found that scores were still very lacking in the first and second cycles in fostering a critical attitude to students, but in the third cycle significant improvements were found. This is evidenced in the reflection of most students. Future research requires a model for applying critical thinking in higher education

Impact of Interactivity and Active Collaborative Learning on Students’ Critical Thinking in Higher Education

In academia, critical thinking involves obtaining reliable information and taking reasoned actions to solve problems. To explore critical thinking skills among undergraduate students, we performed an empirical study of data collected from undergraduate Architecture and Civil Engineering students attending a leading private university in Mexico. The data collection instrument was a Google Forms questionnaire applied online through the university learning management platform, Canvas, using convenience sampling. We received 273 useable responses out of 281 distributed. A hierarchical regression technique was applied to explore the correlation of (1) interactivity and (2) active collaborative learning with the critical thinking of undergraduate students. We found that scholarships and the enrollment status of students significantly influence critical thinking. Our analyzed results additionally suggest that interactivity and active collaborative learning positively influence critical thinking. This study also confirms that a social-media-based learning environment is essential to enhance students’ soft skills.