The Interrelation of First-Year College Students’ Critical Thinking Disposition, Perceived Academic Control, and Academic Achievement

Abstract

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.

Achievement goals, emotions, learning, and performance: A process model.

“…Second, whereas learning strategies were found to predict achievement later in the learning process, consistent with their later temporal sequencing in Pekrun's control-value theory, elaboration led to performance gains whereas critical thinking predicted poorer overall grades. Thus, contrary to prior research on critical thinking showing a positive relationship with achievement (e.g., Muis & Franco, 2009;Phan, 2008), this finding is instead consistent with studies showing weak or nonsignificant relations with performance (e.g., Bers, McGowan, & Rubin, 1996;Facione & Facione, 1997;Giancarlo & Facione, 2001;Komarraju & Nadler, 2013;Stupnisky, Renaud, Daniels, Haynes, & Perry, 2008; for meta-analytic findings, see Richardson et al, 2012).…”

The Effects of Online Communities of Practice on Pre-Service Teachers’ Critical Thinking Dispositions

“…Critical thinking disposition is considered as complementary to critical thinking skills and habits (Şahin, Tunca, Altınkurt and Yılmaz, 2016). Critical thinking skills and dispositions have an interdependent relationship; having a strong critical thinking disposition ensures the development and use of critical thinking skills (Stupnisky, Renaud, Daniels, Haynes and Perry, 2008). Critical thinking dispositions are as essential as critical thinking skills for both students and teachers (Arsal, 2015).…”

Real-World Outcomes and Critical Thinking: Differential Analysis by Academic Major and Gender

“…Both CT skills and the disposition to actually develop and use those skills are crucial, which is the reason why lacking the former (one can have the skills and not feel inclined to use them) or the latter (one may feel the disposition to be a critical thinker, yet lack the skills) may be problematic (Stupnisky, Renaud, Daniels, Haynes, & Perry, 2008). From the literature review (Almeida & Franco, 2011;Ennis, 1994;Facione, 2011;Halpern, 2014;Paul, 2005), a critical thinker's thinking is by its nature curious enough to be tempted by questions; logical enough to analyze the validity of the reasons and conclusions of an argument; scientific enough to develop and test hypotheses, and let the derived conclusions guide behavior; organized enough to delineate a course of action, and sufficiently determined to commit to those guidelines; open enough to participate, to debate, and to compromise; empirical enough to search for valid and reliable evidence to support claims; flexible enough to consider (divergent) ideas, perspectives, or alternatives; epistemically modest enough to be proven wrong, to recycle knowledge, to reformulate beliefs (that are very often disguised as facts), and to readjust strategies; deliberate enough to transfer knowledge and skills between topics or situations.…”

“…According to Stupnisky et al (2008), college freshmen who are more inclined to think critically display stronger perceptions of academic control, with a positive impact on their academic experience. If CT is presented as being important throughout schooling, it seems to play a key-role in higher education, in that college students are expected to develop a deeper approach to learning.…”