Critical
thinking. Tests of critical thinking. Critical thinking tests. Critical
thinking skills. IQ. Tests. CT.
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The Delphi Report Executive Summary, ISBN 1-891557-01-7
The landmark 1990 report describing findings
of the two year project to articulate an international expert consensus
definition of critical thinking, including its core cognitive skills.
The experts identify the characteristics of an ideal critical thinker,
and present specific recommendations relating to critical thinking
instruction and assessment. For
more on The Delphi Report and to download
a pdf copy of the Delphi Report Executive Summary click here.
 Analyzing
Explanations for Seemingly Irrational Choices: Linking Argument
Analysis and Cognitive Science, Facione,
NC, and Facione PA, (2001). International Journal of Applied
Philosophy, Volume 15. Number 2, pp. 267-286. [PDF of this article
made available with the permission of the publisher. See journal
front-matter for information on copy costs.]
Abstract:People
make significant decisions in contexts of risk and uncertainty.
Some of these decisions seem wise under the circumstances, and
others seem like irrational choices. In both cases, people offer
reasons as clarifications and explanations of these choices to
others and to themselves. Argument analysis, a technique well
known in philosophy and more generally in the humanities, can
explicate the strands of assumptions, intermediate conclusions,
data, warrants, and claims that the person articulates. But alone,
argument analysis often falls short of revealing why the person’s
decision makes sense to that person. The findings of empirical
research into the influences of cognitive heuristics, the mental
shortcuts we all use in decision making and problem solving, adds
focus to the analysis of these choices. This paper links these
two powerful analytic strategies, and provides a much fuller,
more fruitful picture of explanations for seemingly irrational
choices. Using an example explanation for deciding not to quit
smoking, the paper makes both its methodological argument and
its implicit argument for the significance of extending this analytical
strategy to applied contexts. The implications of extending this
analysis of everyday argument to management, health care, and
education could be profound.
A
Look across Four Years at the Disposition toward Critical Thinking
Among Undergraduate Students - (26 pages), Giancarlo,
CA., and Facione PA., Journal of General Education, Volume
50, Number 1, pp. 29-55. [PDF of this article made available with
the permission of the publisher. See journal front-matter for information
on copy costs.]
Abstract:This
article examines the critical thinking (CT) dispositions, as measured
by the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, of
students at a four-year, private, liberal arts, comprehensive
university. This paper follows up results first published in 1995.
The present findings represent another snapshot of CT dispositions
among students who participated in 1996 and during the original
investigation in 1992. Longitudinal results about students tested
as freshman in 1992 and again as seniors in 1996 are presented.
Cross sectional results are reported as well. Questions explored
include the relationship between the disposition toward critical
thinking, as measured by the CCTDI, and students’ major,
gender, class level, and grade point average.
 Reasoned
Judgment and Revelation: The Relation of Critical Thinking and Bible
Study - (12 Pages), Facione, PA. (2000) Paper presented
to the American Bible Society, New York. [This PDF download file
is being made available with permission of the author and copyright
holder.]
Abstract:
“Reason is a light that God has kindled in the soul.”
Aristotle. “Reason, however sound, has little weight with
ordinary theologians.” Baruch Spinosa. For humans the impetus
toward thinking is as natural as is an eagle’s impetus to
fly. Birds have wings and no one asks them should they fly. Yet,
although humans have minds, we sometimes wonder whether or not
we should think. Our research on the aspect of critical thinking
called “truthseeking” shows that many endorse the notions
that some questions are too frightening to ask and that they actually
seek reasons to support their preconceptions rather than evidence
to the contrary. Some thoughts are simply too disturbing to be
entertained, and some matters too sacred to be scientifically
investigated. On the other hand, the overall disposition toward
reasoned judgment is strong. Can we reconcile our natural inclination
toward reasoning with the risks that cherished beliefs may be
discovered to be unfounded? We are all aware that these tensions
are no place more evident than in the frequent and bitter clashes
between reason and religion.
The
Disposition Toward Critical Thinking: Its Character, Measurement,
and Relationship to Critical Thinking Skill - (38 Pages),
Facione, PA, Facione, NC, and Giancarlo, CA.(2000). Informal
Logic, Volume 20, Number 1, pp 61-84. [This PDF download file
is being made available here with the permission of the journal
editor / publisher.]
Abstract:
Theorists have hypothesized that skill in critical thinking is
positively correlated with the consistent internal motivation
to think; and, moreover, that specific critical thinking skills
are matched with specific critical thinking dispositions. If true,
these assumptions suggest that a skill-focused curriculum would
lead persons to be both willing and able to think. New instruments
to measure critical thinking skills and critical thinking dispositions
permit empirical investigation of these theoretical assumptions.
Empirical studies of 10th graders, accounting professionals, nursing
professionals, and college students at multiple sites indicate
that for all practical purposes the hypothesized correlations
are not evident. This essay presents a research-based expert consensus
definition of critical thinking, argues that human dispositions
are neither hidden nor unknowable, describes a scientific process
of developing conventional testing tools to measure cognitive
skills and human dispositions, and summarizes recent empirical
research findings that explore the possible relationship of critical
thinking skill and the consistent internal motivation, or disposition,
to use that skill. Given the empirical results to date, it would
appear that an effective approach to teaching for and about thinking
in schools and professional development programs must include
strategies for building intellectual character rather than relying
exclusively on strengthening cognitive skills. Keywords: critical
thinking, disposition, assessment, test development, CCTST, CCTDI
The
Motivation to Think in Working and Learning - (17 Pages),
Facione, PA, Facione NC, and Giancarlo, CA. This essay was originally
published by the California Academic Press in 1996. An abbreviated
form appears in Jones, E (Ed.) Preparing Competent College Graduates:
Setting New and Higher Expectations for Student Learning. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 67-79. This material is used
with the permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Consult their
website for information and permission to make copies.
Abstract:
How can we habituate learners and workers to engage in thoughtful,
fair-minded problem solving, decision making, and professional
judgment? Demands for skillful and fair-minded thinkers arise
today in every professional field and in our civic and personal
lives. The pace of change accelerates, multiple sources of information
saturate our senses, the rules are rewritten, and problems arise
daily that defy predetermined solutions. At a minimum, to be effective
learners and successful workers we must be willing and able to
make informed, fair-minded, judgments in contexts of relative
uncertainty about what to believe and what to do in a wide variety
of situations. To go beyond the minimum, workers, learners, and
citizens must be willing and able to critique intelligently and
amend judiciously the methods, conceptualizations, contexts, evidence,
and standards applied in any given problem situation. In short,
we must habitually, not just skillfully, engage in critical thinking
in a world that is so dynamic that today’s verities are yesterdays
misconceptions. Thus the driving question: how is the consistent
internal motivation to think critically identified, measured,
and nurtured?
Professional
Judgment and the Disposition Toward Critical Thinking - (17 Pages),
This
essay is an earlier version of a paper published in 1999 in French.
Facione, PA, Facione, NC, Giancarlo, CA, Ferguson, N, (1999). Le
jugement professionnel et la disposition à la pensée
critique. Guilbert, L, Boisvert, J., and Ferguson, N (Eds.)
Enseigner et compredre: le développement d´une pensée
critique. Quebec, Canada: Les Presses de l´Université
Laval. 307-26.
Abstract:
Professionals are expected to exercise sound, unbiased judgment
in interpreting and analyzing information, determining the nature
of problems, identifying and evaluating alternative courses of
action, making decisions, and, throughout, monitoring the process
and impact of their problem solving activity so as to amend, revise,
correct, or alter their decisions, or any element that led up
to those decisions, as deemed necessary. Judgment in professional
practice, correctly exercised, is a reflective, self-corrective,
purposeful thinking process which requires the professional to
take into account content knowledge, context, evidence, methods,
conceptualizations, and a variety of criteria and standards of
adequacy. Professional judgment is what educators have called
“critical thinking” but exercised in a practical, professional
setting. The exercise of sound judgment requires both a willingness
and the ability to think critically. The multiplicity of parameters
affecting professional judgment has direct implications for the
education of novice and more advanced practitioners. Given the
relationship between professional judgment and the disposition
toward critical thinking, scientific investigations of that disposition
have direct implications for educating and evaluating professionals.
Assessment
Design Issues for Evaluating Critical Thinking in Nursing,
Facione,
NC, Facione, PA, (1996). Holistic Nursing Practice, Volume 10,
Number 3, pp. 41-53
Abstract:
The assessment of graduating students' critical thinking skills
and habits of mind challenges and rewards those who approach the
task from a critical thinking perspective. This paper identifies
and discusses issues in the design of authentic assessments of
critical thinking as an educational outcome predictive of competent
professional judgment in professional practice programs. The paper
uses as its running example programs in nursing, but is applicable
to programs in business, engineering, social work, teacher preparation,
and other areas of professional practice.. Authentic assessment
implies a multiple methods design which address the diverse contexts
within which judgments must be made by professional nurses. Most
important, it implies a concern for validity and reliability of
measurement, selection of appropriate data-points, and attention
to a number of logistical and practical concerns. Keywords: Outcomes
assessment, critical thinking, portfolio assessment, testing,
clinical judgment, professional judgment, nursing education.
Externalizing
the Critical Thinking in Knowledge Development and Clinical Judgment
- (15 Pages),
Facione, NC, Facione, PA, (1996). Nursing Outlook, Volume 44,
pages 129-36 [This PDF download file is being made available here
with the permission of the journal editor and publisher.]
Abstract:
Critical thinking, defined as purposeful, self-regulatory judgment,
is centrally evident in nursing knowledge development and expert
clinical judgment. A holistic critical thinking scoring rubric,
a framework for critical thinking individual and group presentations,
and a case study strategy for training and nurturing critical
thinking in students illustrate that the critical thinking in
nursing knowledge development and clinical judgment an be externalized,
taught, modeled, and measured. The approaches suggested here can
be adapted to other professional practice programs and fields.
The
Disposition Toward Critical Thinking - (17 Pages),
Facione,
PA, Sánchez, (Giancarlo) CA, Facione, NC, & Gainen, J.,
(1995). Journal of General Education. Volume 44, Number 1,
pp. 1-25. [This PDF made available with the permission of the publisher.
See journal front-matter for information on copy costs.]
Abstract:
There is a set of characterological attributes thought to be associated
with developing success at critical thinking (CT). This paper
explores the disposition toward CT theoretically, and then as
it appears to be manifest in college students. Factor analytic
research grounded in a consensus-based conceptual analysis of
CT described seven aspects of the overall disposition toward CT:
truthseeking, open-mindedness, analyticity, systematicity, CT
confidence, inquisitiveness, and cognitive maturity. The California
Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), developed in
1992, was used to sample college students at two comprehensive
universities. Entering college freshman students showed strengths
in open-mindedness and inquisitiveness, weaknesses in systematicity
and opposition to truthseeking. Additional research indicates
the disposition toward CT is highly correlated with the psychological
constructs of absorption and openness to experience, and strongly
predictive of ego-resiliency. A preliminary study explores the
interesting and potentially complex interrelationship between
the disposition toward CT and CT abilities. In addition to the
significance of this work for psychological studies of human development,
empirical research on the disposition toward CT promises important
implications for all levels of education.
The
Disposition Toward Critical Thinking as a Measure of Competent Clinical
Judgment: The Development of the California Critical Thinking Disposition
Inventory, Facione, NC, Facione, PA, and Giancarlo, CA,
(1994). Journal of Nursing Education. Volume 33, Number 8,
pp. 345-350.
Abstract:
Assessing critical thinking skills and the disposition to use
them is crucial in nursing education and research. The CCTDI uses
the Delphi Report's consensus definition of Critical thinking
as the theoretical basis to measure the disposition toward critical
thinking. Item analysis and factor analysis techniques were used
to create seven attribute scales that grouped the Delphi descriptive
phrases into larger, more unified constructs: Open-mindedness,
Analyticity, Cognitive Maturity, Truthseeking, Systematicity,
Inquisitiveness, and Self-Confidence. The initial reliability
coefficients (Cronbach's alpha .90 overall and .71 -.80 for the
seven internal scales) remained relatively stable when the 75-item
instrument was administered to 1,019 additional college students
(.90 overall, .60 -.78 scales). The alpha levels in the second
sample. The instrument has subsequently been used to assess the
disposition toward critical thinking in junior high school through
the doctoral level. Psychometric research using the CCTDI and
related instruments offers the potential of testing a number of
interesting hypotheses regarding the attributes of mind which
might contribute to improved clinical judgment and critical thinking
in nursing.
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© 2005 Peter A. Facione
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