While a great deal of research has examined students' critical thinking skills, less is known about students' tendencies to use these skills. Specifically, little is known about what factors contribute to students developing a disposition to think critically or what impact this disposition has on college students' academic achievement. Perceived control, which has been found to be an important factor in college students' academic success, may be an important factor in developing this disposition. The current longitudinal study examined the reciprocal-effects between critical thinking disposition and perceived academic control, and their comparative influences on academic achievement in 1196 first-year college students. Using a two-wave, two-variable cross-lag structural equation model, a reciprocal-effect was found whereby students' perceived academic control predicted their subsequent critical thinking disposition, and students' critical thinking disposition predicted their subsequent perceived academic control. Furthermore, after controlling for high school academic performance, perceived academic control was found to have a stronger impact on students' GPAs than critical thinking disposition. Implications of fostering a critical thinking disposition and perceived academic control among college students are discussed.

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Due to its widespread popularity, self-esteem is continually being promoted to students despite limited empirical support for its effectiveness in improving their academic achievement. As a result, constructs that are potentially more salient to academic performance, such as perceived control, have gone relatively unnoticed. Although past research has examined the link between students' academic achievement and either their self-esteem or perceived control, few studies have compared both constructs simultaneously to elucidate which one is more important to academic success. This longitudinal study directly contrasted the effects of self-esteem and perceived control on the academic performance of 802 first-year college students. After accounting for incoming ability (high school grades), age, and gender, a structural equation model showed perceived control positively predicted students' GPA. In contrast, the predictive effect of self-esteem on GPA was non-existent. Findings indicate that compared to self-esteem, perceived control is a more powerful predictor of first-year college students' GPA. Implications for utilizing educational interventions to boost perceived control among college students are discussed.

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BackgroundThe CanMEDS roles and competencies are being used as the framework to support the development of the Manitoba Practice Assessment Program (MPAP) designed to assess the competence of physicians practicing with a conditional license. Establishing the link between clinical practice and assessment of performance is critical in the development of the MPAP. A first step in establishing this link is to identify activities performed in actual clinical practice as well as the importance of those activities.MethodsA descriptive survey design was used to answer the research questions: (1) How do physicians rate the complexity, frequency, and criticality of CanMEDS roles? (2) What is the distribution of perceived importance scores for the CanMEDS roles? Two online surveys, one specific to family practice physicians, and one specific to specialists, were emailed to a sample of Canadian physicians.ResultsOverall perceived importance scores were calculated for each of the CanMEDS roles. It appears that each role is considered to be at least moderately important. The Medical Expert role was ranked as the most important, followed by the roles of Communicator, Professional, Collaborator, Scholar, Manager, and Health Advocate. There were no significant differences in overall CanMEDS perceived importance scores between family practice physicians and specialists (N = 88).ConclusionsGiven that each of the CanMEDS roles is considered at least moderately important, a variety of assessment tools are needed to evaluate competencies across the entire spectrum of roles. The results underscore the importance of incorporating a multifaceted approach when developing a practice assessment program.