Critical
thinking. Tests of critical thinking. Critical thinking tests. Critical
thinking skills. IQ. Tests. CT.
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© 2005 Peter A. Facione
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The
Complete American Philosophical Association Delphi Research Report
is available as ERIC Document Number: ED 315 423
(c) 1990, The California Academic Press, 217 La Cruz Ave., Millbrae,
CA 94030.
Section
I: "The Critical Thinking Movement" The 1980s witnessed
a growing accord that the heart of education lies exactly where
traditional advocates of a liberal education always said it was
-- in the processes of inquiry, learning and thinking rather than
in the accumulation of disjointed skills and senescent information.
By the decade's end the movement to infuse the K-12 and post-secondary
curricula with critical thinking (CT) had gained remarkable momentum.
The momentum continues to build now, in the 21st Century, as employers,
educators, and policy-makers continue to endorse the development
of students' critical thinking as an essential educational priority.
Then, and perhaps still today, the successes of "The Critical
Thinking Movement" raised vexing questions for educators: Which
skills, exactly, are the ones that comprise the core group of critical
thinking skills? What pedagogical approaches are most effective
to teach for critical thinking, and not simply about critical thinking?
What assessment strategies and tools work best for the assessment
of critical thinking as a required student learning outcome?
When
asked by the individual professor or teacher seeking to introduce
CT into her own classroom, such questions are difficult enough.
But they took on social, fiscal, and political dimensions when asked
by campus curriculum committees, school district offices, boards
of education, and the educational testing and publishing industries.
Given the central role played by philosophers in articulating the
value, both individual and social, of CT, in analyzing the concept
of CT, in designing college level academic programs in CT, and in
assisting with efforts to introduce CT into the K-12 curriculum,
it is little wonder that the American Philosophical Association,
through its Committee on Pre-College Philosophy, took great interest
in the CT movement and its impact on the profession. In December
of 1987 that committee asked Dr. Peter Facione to serve as the lead
investigator to coordinate an international effort to determine
the extent to which experts agreed on the definition of critical
thinking for purposes of college level teaching and assessment.
The result became known as "the Delphi Report," a document
which continues to influence critical thinking theory, teaching,
and assessment in the full spectrum of academic disciplines and
professional fields.
TABLE
1
CONSENSUS STATEMENT REGARDING CRITICAL THINKING AND THE
IDEAL CRITICAL THINKER
"We understand critical thinking to be purposeful,
self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation,
analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation
of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological,
or contextual considerations upon which that judgment is
based. CT is essential as a tool of inquiry. As such, CT
is a liberating force in education and a powerful resource
in one's personal and civic life. While not synonymous with
good thinking, CT is a pervasive and self-rectifying human
phenomenon. The ideal critical thinker is habitually inquisitive,
well-informed, trustful of reason, open-minded, flexible,
fair-minded in evaluation, honest in facing personal biases,
prudent in making judgments, willing to reconsider, clear
about issues, orderly in complex matters, diligent in seeking
relevant information, reasonable in the selection of criteria,
focused in inquiry, and persistent in seeking results which
are as precise as the subject and the circumstances of inquiry
permit. Thus, educating good critical thinkers means working
toward this ideal. It combines developing CT skills with
nurturing those dispositions which consistently yield useful
insights and which are the basis of a rational and democratic
society.
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As
Table 1 suggests, a key result of inquiry is the articulation by
a panel of CT experts of a conceptualization of CT it terms
of two dimensions: cognitive skills and affective dispositions.
Section II of the report describes the Delphi research methodology.
Section III address the skill dimension of CT; and Section IV focuses
on the dispositional dimension of CT. Fifteen recommendations pertaining
to CT instruction and assessment are presented..."
The
Great Wall of China
What is the relationship between critical thinking, strange ideas,
and mental walls?
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© 2005 Peter A. Facione
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The
Executive Summary 