Measuring Critical Thinking in Science: Systematic Review

Abstract

The review aims to explore possible methods for critical thinking assessment in science from previous studies. For a long time, critical thinking has been among most talked topics among researchers and academicians, due to its nature in improving one’s quality of life such as becoming an effective problem solver and logical thinkers. In this study, literature search for related studies was conducted through online databases, The Educational Resource Information Centre (ERIC) dated from the year 2010 till 2017 using keywords such as critical thinking, science, science education and measurement. Only refereed/peer-reviewed journals that fulfilled criteria needed were selected for the study with the findings from web-based service providers, including Sage Journals, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Science Direct, and Wiley Online Library. The findings were analyzed using document analysis technique to answer research questions of this study. This systematic review reveals that critical thinking can be assessed using quantitative or qualitative methods depending on the scope and dimensions of the research. Although there are studies on critical thinking in science, the assessment tools used are instrumented for critical thinking in general setting which focuses in general context. However, when it comes to assessing critical thinking in science secondary school/high school, the findings were limited.

Evaluating and comparing critical thinking skills of residents of Tehran University of Medical Sciences

“…It can be concluded that the residents' mean score of subdomains CT, compared to the results obtained from the studies, as well as the expectation from higher educational levels such as the residency level, the obtained means, seem to be lower than expected. Studies point to several intertwined factors giving rise to the poor level of residents' CT skills, including traditional educational system, work pressure, lack of interactive teaching methods, emphasis on memorization, lack of student motivation, and lack of appropriate techniques for cultivating CT skills [10,33,56]. Given that CT is an essential skill for medical residents to be able to make correct decisions, judgments, and reasoning about patient problems in critical and complex situations [9,10], it is imperative to pay attention to cultivating and promoting these skills in the residency program.…”