A national window on critical thinking by dental educators following an ADEA webinar

Abstract

Purpose Critical thinking is an essential skill for the dentist, yet little has surfaced to define the outcome, guide learning, and assess performance. On June 16, 2020, the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) sponsored a 1‐hour webinar on Critical thinking with 600 attendees. To report input from a national cohort of dental educators responding to a model for critical thinking guidance. Methods Critical thinking concepts with explicit skillsets were presented. Attendees gave Likert responses on importance and confidence defining outcome. At the end of the webinar, attendees were asked in an open‐ended format what their “take away” was. Results One hundred and five responded to a Likert scale question on how important critical thinking is, with 93% giving a 5. To the question on how well have you figured out how to define the outcome, guide learning, and assess performance, 53% gave a 3 and 21% gave a 2 (χ2 = 151; P < 0.01) From 121 “take away” responses, 79 reiterated the session's central theme with comments on emulating the thought process of the expert or articulating a skillset. In a separate classification of the same “take away,” responses oriented to common domains of education nomenclature. No alternative critical thinking model for articulating the outcome, guiding learning, and assessing performance was evident in any of the 121 take away responses. Conclusions Results are interpreted as an opportunity moment for dental education to collectively develop additional critical thinking models.

Critical thinking: Inquiring culture, learning outcomes examples, a call for learning models, and outcomes

“…What kind of thinking will allow us to adapt to change? (2) In health care, alternatives are more common than answers. What kind of thinking brings meaningful alternatives?…”

“…We have a paucity of learning outcomes for critical thinking. 1,2 A single definition of critical thinking is elusive; however, the various definitions have commonalities: analyze, synthesize, prioritize, explore, conceptualize, care. Critical thinking is a complex and advanced skill which incorporates knowledge and technique but is not limited to them.…”

“…The literature on the theory of critical thinking is extensive, yet the literature on application is sparse. We have a paucity of learning outcomes for critical thinking 1,2 . A single definition of critical thinking is elusive; however, the various definitions have commonalities: analyze, synthesize, prioritize, explore, conceptualize, care.…”