A Systematic Review of Critical Thinking Instruments for Use in Dental Education

Abstract

Critical thinking is widely recognized as an essential competency in dental education, but there is little agreement on how it should be assessed. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the availability of instruments that could be used to measure critical thinking in dental students and to evaluate psychometric evidence to support their use. In January 2017, an electronic search of both the medical and education literature was performed on nine databases. The search included both keyword and Medical Subject Heading terms for critical thinking, higher education/health sciences education, measurement/assessment, and reproducibility of results. The grey literature was included in the search. The search produced 2,977 unique records. From the title and abstract review, 183 articles were selected for further review, which resulted in 36 articles for data extraction. Ten of these studies sought to evaluate psychometric properties of the instruments used and were subjected to quality assessment. Seven assessment instruments were identified. Of these, three instruments that have not been widely used nor tested in health professions students showed evidence of psychometric strength and appeared to have potential for use in dental education. Further research should focus on the three critical thinking instruments with strong psychometric evidence, with the aim of establishing validity and reliability in the context of dental education.

Guided discovery-blended learning (GDBL) for critical thinking skill empowerment: A learning strategy in human excretory system

“…Developing critical thinking potential should be conducted intensively in learning activities. Intensive activities will familiarize students with critical thinking skills and it is similar to (Anders et al, 2019). Table 9 indicates that students' response to the human excretory system content with the GDBL implementation was, in overall, signified an agreement on the increase of learning with GDBL strategy.…”

“…Students' critical thinking skill is not genetics; thus, it needs to be trained and improved through repeated practice (Hokanson, 2018). Critical thinking skill improvement must be conducted intensively (Anders et al, 2019). Students' critical thinking skills can be measured by critical thinking instrument that refers to critical thinking indicators, among others, give simple explanation, establish basic skills, draw conclusion, give further explanation, and arrange strategies and techniques (Ennis, 1985;2011).…”

Subject Index to Volume 83 (2019)

“…A systematic review of critical thinking instruments for use in dental education. Patrick L. Anders et al 2019;83(4):381-97.…”

Psychometric properties of an instrument to assess critical thinking disposition and metacognition in dental students

“…Critical thinking is an essential competency in dental education, but there is no consensus definition or agreement on how it should be assessed . The most widely accepted definition is the Delphi model, which was developed 30 years ago by critical thinking experts in philosophy, education, and psychology .…”