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Developing Critical Thinking with Journal Writing

Promoting critical thinking through an evidence-based skills fair intervention

Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning

ISSN : 2397-7604

Article publication date: 23 November 2020

Issue publication date: 1 April 2022

The lack of critical thinking in new graduates has been a concern to the nursing profession. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of an innovative, evidence-based skills fair intervention on nursing students' achievements and perceptions of critical thinking skills development.

Design/methodology/approach

The explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed for this study.

The findings indicated participants perceived the intervention as a strategy for developing critical thinking.

Originality/value

The study provides educators helpful information in planning their own teaching practice in educating students.

Critical thinking

Evidence-based practice, skills fair intervention.

Gonzalez, H.C. , Hsiao, E.-L. , Dees, D.C. , Noviello, S.R. and Gerber, B.L. (2022), "Promoting critical thinking through an evidence-based skills fair intervention", Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning , Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 41-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIT-08-2020-0041

Emerald Publishing Limited

Published in Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

Critical thinking (CT) was defined as “cognitive skills of analyzing, applying standards, discriminating, information seeking, logical reasoning, predicting, and transforming knowledge” ( Scheffer and Rubenfeld, 2000 , p. 357). Critical thinking is the basis for all professional decision-making ( Moore, 2007 ). The lack of critical thinking in student nurses and new graduates has been a concern to the nursing profession. It would negatively affect the quality of service and directly relate to the high error rates in novice nurses that influence patient safety ( Arli et al. , 2017 ; Saintsing et al. , 2011 ). It was reported that as many as 88% of novice nurses commit medication errors with 30% of these errors due to a lack of critical thinking ( Ebright et al. , 2004 ). Failure to rescue is another type of error common for novice nurses, reported as high as 37% ( Saintsing et al. , 2011 ). The failure to recognize trends or complications promptly or take action to stabilize the patient occurs when health-care providers do not recognize signs and symptoms of the early warnings of distress ( Garvey and CNE series, 2015 ). Internationally, this lack of preparedness and critical thinking attributes to the reported 35–60% attrition rate of new graduate nurses in their first two years of practice ( Goodare, 2015 ). The high attrition rate of new nurses has expensive professional and economic costs of $82,000 or more per nurse and negatively affects patient care ( Twibell et al. , 2012 ). Facione and Facione (2013) reported the failure to utilize critical thinking skills not only interferes with learning but also results in poor decision-making and unclear communication between health-care professionals, which ultimately leads to patient deaths.

Due to the importance of critical thinking, many nursing programs strive to infuse critical thinking into their curriculum to better prepare graduates for the realities of clinical practice that involves ever-changing, complex clinical situations and bridge the gap between education and practice in nursing ( Benner et al. , 2010 ; Kim et al. , 2019 ; Park et al. , 2016 ; Newton and Moore, 2013 ; Nibert, 2011 ). To help develop students' critical thinking skills, nurse educators must change the way they teach nursing, so they can prepare future nurses to be effective communicators, critical thinkers and creative problem solvers ( Rieger et al. , 2015 ). Nursing leaders also need to redefine teaching practice and educational guidelines that drive innovation in undergraduate nursing programs.

Evidence-based practice has been advocated to promote critical thinking and help reduce the research-practice gap ( Profetto-McGrath, 2005 ; Stanley and Dougherty, 2010 ). Evidence-based practice was defined as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient” ( Sackett et al. , 1996 , p. 71). Skills fair intervention, one type of evidence-based practice, can be used to engage students, promote active learning and develop critical thinking ( McCausland and Meyers, 2013 ; Roberts et al. , 2009 ). Skills fair intervention helps promote a consistent teaching practice of the psychomotor skills to the novice nurse that decreased anxiety, gave clarity of expectations to the students in the clinical setting and increased students' critical thinking skills ( Roberts et al. , 2009 ). The researchers of this study had an opportunity to create an active, innovative skills fair intervention for a baccalaureate nursing program in one southeastern state. This intervention incorporated evidence-based practice rationale with critical thinking prompts using Socratic questioning, evidence-based practice videos to the psychomotor skill rubrics, group work, guided discussions, expert demonstration followed by guided practice and blended learning in an attempt to promote and develop critical thinking in nursing students ( Hsu and Hsieh, 2013 ; Oermann et al. , 2011 ; Roberts et al. , 2009 ). The effects of an innovative skills fair intervention on senior baccalaureate nursing students' achievements and their perceptions of critical thinking development were examined in the study.

Literature review

The ability to use reasoned opinion focusing equally on processes and outcomes over emotions is called critical thinking ( Paul and Elder, 2008 ). Critical thinking skills are desired in almost every discipline and play a major role in decision-making and daily judgments. The roots of critical thinking date back to Socrates 2,500 years ago and can be traced to the ancient philosopher Aristotle ( Paul and Elder, 2012 ). Socrates challenged others by asking inquisitive questions in an attempt to challenge their knowledge. In the 1980s, critical thinking gained nationwide recognition as a behavioral science concept in the educational system ( Robert and Petersen, 2013 ). Many researchers in both education and nursing have attempted to define, measure and teach critical thinking for decades. However, a theoretical definition has yet to be accepted and established by the nursing profession ( Romeo, 2010 ). The terms critical literacy, CT, reflective thinking, systems thinking, clinical judgment and clinical reasoning are used synonymously in the reviewed literature ( Clarke and Whitney, 2009 ; Dykstra, 2008 ; Jones, 2010 ; Swing, 2014 ; Turner, 2005 ).

Watson and Glaser (1980) viewed critical thinking not only as cognitive skills but also as a combination of skills, knowledge and attitudes. Paul (1993) , the founder of the Foundation for Critical Thinking, offered several definitions of critical thinking and identified three essential components of critical thinking: elements of thought, intellectual standards and affective traits. Brunt (2005) stated critical thinking is a process of being practical and considered it to be “the process of purposeful thinking and reflective reasoning where practitioners examine ideas, assumptions, principles, conclusions, beliefs, and actions in the contexts of nursing practice” (p. 61). In an updated definition, Ennis (2011) described critical thinking as, “reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do” (para. 1).

The most comprehensive attempt to define critical thinking was under the direction of Facione and sponsored by the American Philosophical Association ( Scheffer and Rubenfeld, 2000 ). Facione (1990) surveyed 53 experts from the arts and sciences using the Delphi method to define critical thinking as a “purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as an explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which judgment, is based” (p. 2).

To come to a consensus definition for critical thinking, Scheffer and Rubenfeld (2000) also conducted a Delphi study. Their study consisted of an international panel of nurses who completed five rounds of sequenced questions to arrive at a consensus definition. Critical thinking was defined as “habits of mind” and “cognitive skills.” The elements of habits of mind included “confidence, contextual perspective, creativity, flexibility, inquisitiveness, intellectual integrity, intuition, open-mindedness, perseverance, and reflection” ( Scheffer and Rubenfeld, 2000 , p. 352). The elements of cognitive skills were recognized as “analyzing, applying standards, discriminating, information seeking, logical reasoning, predicting, and transforming knowledge” ( Scheffer and Rubenfeld, 2000 , p. 352). In addition, Ignatavicius (2001) defined the development of critical thinking as a long-term process that must be practiced, nurtured and reinforced over time. Ignatavicius believed that a critical thinker required six cognitive skills: interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation and self-regulation ( Chun-Chih et al. , 2015 ). According to Ignatavicius (2001) , the development of critical thinking is difficult to measure or describe because it is a formative rather than summative process.

Fero et al. (2009) noted that patient safety might be compromised if a nurse cannot provide clinically competent care due to a lack of critical thinking. The Institute of Medicine (2001) recommended five health care competencies: patient-centered care, interdisciplinary team care, evidence-based practice, informatics and quality improvement. Understanding the development and attainment of critical thinking is the key for gaining these future competencies ( Scheffer and Rubenfeld, 2000 ). The development of a strong scientific foundation for nursing practice depends on habits such as contextual perspective, inquisitiveness, creativity, analysis and reasoning skills. Therefore, the need to better understand how these critical thinking habits are developed in nursing students needs to be explored through additional research ( Fero et al. , 2009 ). Despite critical thinking being listed since the 1980s as an accreditation outcome criteria for baccalaureate programs by the National League for Nursing, very little improvement has been observed in practice ( McMullen and McMullen, 2009 ). James (2013) reported the number of patient harm incidents associated with hospital care is much higher than previously thought. James' study indicated that between 210,000 and 440,000 patients each year go to the hospital for care and end up suffering some preventable harm that contributes to their death. James' study of preventable errors is attributed to other sources besides nursing care, but having a nurse in place who can advocate and critically think for patients will make a positive impact on improving patient safety ( James, 2013 ; Robert and Peterson, 2013 ).

Adopting teaching practice to promote CT is a crucial component of nursing education. Research by Nadelson and Nadelson (2014) suggested evidence-based practice is best learned when integrated into multiple areas of the curriculum. Evidence-based practice developed its roots through evidence-based medicine, and the philosophical origins extend back to the mid-19th century ( Longton, 2014 ). Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing, used evidence-based practice during the Crimean War when she recognized a connection between poor sanitary conditions and rising mortality rates of wounded soldiers ( Rahman and Applebaum, 2011 ). In professional nursing practice today, a commonly used definition of evidence-based practice is derived from Dr. David Sackett: the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of the individual patient ( Sackett et al. , 1996 , p. 71). As professional nurses, it is imperative for patient safety to remain inquisitive and ask if the care provided is based on available evidence. One of the core beliefs of the American Nephrology Nurses' Association's (2019) 2019–2020 Strategic Plan is “Anna must support research to develop evidence-based practice, as well as to advance nursing science, and that as individual members, we must support, participate in, and apply evidence-based research that advances our own skills, as well as nursing science” (p. 1). Longton (2014) reported the lack of evidence-based practice in nursing resulted in negative outcomes for patients. In fact, when evidence-based practice was implemented, changes in policies and procedures occurred that resulted in decreased reports of patient harm and associated health-care costs. The Institute of Medicine (2011) recommendations included nurses being leaders in the transformation of the health-care system and achieving higher levels of education that will provide the ability to critically analyze data to improve the quality of care for patients. Student nurses must be taught to connect and integrate CT and evidence-based practice throughout their program of study and continue that practice throughout their careers.

One type of evidence-based practice that can be used to engage students, promote active learning and develop critical thinking is skills fair intervention ( McCausland and Meyers, 2013 ; Roberts et al. , 2009 ). Skills fair intervention promoted a consistent teaching approach of the psychomotor skills to the novice nurse that decreased anxiety, gave clarity of expectations to the students in the clinical setting and increased students' critical thinking skills ( Roberts et al. , 2009 ). The skills fair intervention used in this study is a teaching strategy that incorporated CT prompts, Socratic questioning, group work, guided discussions, return demonstrations and blended learning in an attempt to develop CT in nursing students ( Hsu and Hsieh, 2013 ; Roberts et al. , 2009 ). It melded evidence-based practice with simulated CT opportunities while students practiced essential psychomotor skills.

Research methodology

Context – skills fair intervention.

According to Roberts et al. (2009) , psychomotor skills decline over time even among licensed experienced professionals within as little as two weeks and may need to be relearned within two months without performing a skill. When applying this concept to student nurses for whom each skill is new, it is no wonder their competency result is diminished after having a summer break from nursing school. This skills fair intervention is a one-day event to assist baccalaureate students who had taken the summer off from their studies in nursing and all faculty participated in operating the stations. It incorporated evidence-based practice rationale with critical thinking prompts using Socratic questioning, evidence-based practice videos to the psychomotor skill rubrics, group work, guided discussions, expert demonstration followed by guided practice and blended learning in an attempt to promote and develop critical thinking in baccalaureate students.

Students were scheduled and placed randomly into eight teams based on attributes of critical thinking as described by Wittmann-Price (2013) : Team A – Perseverance, Team B – Flexibility, Team C – Confidence, Team D – Creativity, Team E – Inquisitiveness, Team F – Reflection, Team G – Analyzing and Team H – Intuition. The students rotated every 20 minutes through eight stations: Medication Administration: Intramuscular and Subcutaneous Injections, Initiating Intravenous Therapy, ten-minute Focused Physical Assessment, Foley Catheter Insertion, Nasogastric Intubation, Skin Assessment/Braden Score and Restraints, Vital Signs and a Safety Station. When the students completed all eight stations, they went to the “Check-Out” booth to complete a simple evaluation to determine their perceptions of the effectiveness of the innovative intervention. When the evaluations were complete, each of the eight critical thinking attribute teams placed their index cards into a hat, and a student won a small prize. All Junior 2, Senior 1 and Senior 2 students were required to attend the Skills Fair. The Skills Fair Team strove to make the event as festive as possible, engaging nursing students with balloons, candy, tri-boards, signs and fun pre and postactivities. The Skills Fair rubrics, scheduling and instructions were shared electronically with students and faculty before the skills fair intervention to ensure adequate preparation and continuous resource availability as students move forward into their future clinical settings.

Research design

Institutional review board (IRB) approval was obtained from XXX University to conduct this study and protect human subject rights. The explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed for this study. The design was chosen to identify what effects a skills fair intervention that had on senior baccalaureate nursing students' achievements on the Kaplan Critical Thinking Integrated Test (KCTIT) and then follow up with individual interviews to explore those test results in more depth. In total, 52 senior nursing students completed the KCTIT; 30 of them participated in the skills fair intervention and 22 of them did not participate. The KCTIT is a computerized 85-item exam in which 85 equates to 100%, making each question worth one point. It has high reliability and validity ( Kaplan Nursing, 2012 ; Swing, 2014 ). The reliability value of the KCTIT ranged from 0.72 to 0.89. A t -test was used to analyze the test results.

A total of 11 participants were purposefully selected based on a range of six high achievers and five low achievers on the KCTIT for open-ended one-on-one interviews. Each interview was conducted individually and lasted for about 60 minutes. An open-ended interview protocol was used to guide the flow of data collection. The interviewees' ages ranged from 21 to 30 years, with an average of 24 years. One of 11 interviewees was male. Among them, seven were White, three were Black and one was Indian American. The data collected were used to answer the following research questions: (1) What was the difference in achievements on the KCTIT among senior baccalaureate nursing students who participated in the skills fair intervention and students who did not participate? (2) What were the senior baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of internal and external factors impacting the development of critical thinking skills during the skills fair intervention? and (3) What were the senior baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of the skills fair intervention as a critical thinking developmental strategy?

Inductive content analysis was used to analyze interview data by starting with the close reading of the transcripts and writing memos for initial coding, followed by an analysis of patterns and relationships among the data for focused coding. The intercoder reliability was established for qualitative data analysis with a nursing expert. The lead researcher and the expert read the transcript several times and assigned a code to significant units of text that corresponded with answering the research questions. The codes were compared based on differences and similarities and sorted into subcategories and categories. Then, headings and subheadings were used based on similar comments to develop central themes and patterns. The process of establishing intercoder reliability helped to increase dependability, conformability and credibility of the findings ( Graneheim and Lundman, 2004 ). In addition, methods of credibility, confirmability, dependability and transferability were applied to increase the trustworthiness of this study ( Graneheim and Lundman, 2004 ). First, reflexivity was observed by keeping journals and memos. This practice allowed the lead researcher to reflect on personal views to minimize bias. Data saturation was reached through following the recommended number of participants as well as repeated immersion in the data during analysis until no new data surfaced. Member checking was accomplished through returning the transcript and the interpretation to the participants to check the accuracy and truthfulness of the findings. Finally, proper documentation was conducted to allow accurate crossreferencing throughout the study.

Quantitative results

Results for the quantitative portion showed there was no difference in scores on the KCTIT between senior nursing students who participated in the skills fair intervention and senior nursing students who did not participate, t (50) = −0.174, p = 0.86 > 0.05. The test scores between the nonparticipant group ( M = 67.59, SD = 5.81) and the participant group ( M = 67.88, SD = 5.99) were almost equal.

Qualitative results

Initial coding.

The results from the initial coding and generated themes are listed in Table 1 . First, the participants perceived the skills fair intervention as “promoting experience” and “confidence” by practicing previously learned knowledge and reinforcing it with active learning strategies. Second, the participants perceived the skills fair intervention as a relaxed, nonthreatening learning environment due to the festive atmosphere, especially in comparison to other learning experiences in the nursing program. The nonthreatening environment of the skills fair intervention allowed students to learn without fear. Third, the majority of participants believed their critical thinking was strengthened after participating. Several participants believed their perception of critical thinking was “enhanced” or “reinforced” rather than significantly changed.

Focused coding results

The final themes were derived from the analysis of patterns and relationships among the content of the data using inductive content analysis ( Saldana, 2009 ). The following was examined across the focused coding process: (1) factors impacting critical thinking skills development during skills fair intervention and (2) skills fair intervention a critical thinking skills developmental strategy.

Factors impacting critical thinking skills development . The factors impacting the development of critical thinking during the skills fair intervention were divided into two themes: internal factors and external factors. The internal factors were characteristics innate to the students. The identified internal factors were (1) confidence and anxiety levels, (2) attitude and (3) age. The external factors were the outside influences that affected the students. The external factors were (1) experience and practice, (2) faculty involvement, (3) positive learning environment and (4) faculty prompts.

I think that confidence and anxiety definitely both have a huge impact on your ability to be able to really critically think. If you start getting anxious and panicking you cannot think through the process like you need too. I do not really think gender or age necessarily would have anything to do with critical thinking.

Definitely the confidence level, I think, the more advanced you get in the program, your confidence just keeps on growing. Level of anxiety, definitely… I think the people who were in the Skills Fair for the first time, had more anxiety because they did not really know to think, they did not know how strict it was going to be, or if they really had to know everything by the book. I think the Skills Fair helped everyone's confidence levels, but especially the Jr. 2's.

Attitude was an important factor in the development of critical thinking skills during the skills fair intervention as participants believed possessing a pleasant and positive attitude meant a student was eager to learn, participate, accept responsibility for completing duties and think seriously. Participant 6 believed attitude contributed to performance in the Skills Fair.

I feel like, certain things bring critical thinking out in you. And since I'm a little bit older than some of the other students, I have had more life experiences and am able to figure stuff out better. Older students have had more time to learn by trial and error, and this and that.

Like when I had clinical with you, you'd always tell us to know our patients' medications. To always know and be prepared to answer questions – because at first as a Junior 1 we did not do that in the clinical setting… and as a Junior 2, I did not really have to know my medications, but with you as a Senior 1, I started to realize that the patients do ask about their meds, so I was making sure that I knew everything before they asked it. And just having more practice with IVs – at first, I was really nervous, but when I got to my preceptorship – I had done so many IVs and with all of the practice, it just built up my confidence with that skill so when I performed that skill during the Fair, I was confident due to my clinical experiences and able to think and perform better.

I think teachers will always affect the ability to critically think just because you want [to] get the right answer because they are there and you want to seem smart to them [Laugh]. Also, if you are leading in the wrong direction of your thinking – they help steer you back to [in] the right direction so I think that was very helpful.

You could tell the faculty really tried to make it more laid back and fun, so everybody would have a good experience. The faculty had a good attitude. I think making it fun and active helped keep people positive. You know if people are negative and not motivated, nothing gets accomplished. The faculty did an amazing job at making the Skills Fair a positive atmosphere.

However, for some of the participants, a positive learning environment depended on their fellow students. The students were randomly assigned alphabetically to groups, and the groups were assigned to starting stations at the Skills Fair. The participants claimed some students did not want to participate and displayed cynicism toward the intervention. The participants believed their cynicism affected the positive learning environment making critical thinking more difficult during the Skills Fair.

Okay, when [instructor name] was demonstrating the Chevron technique right after we inserted the IV catheter and we were trying to secure the catheter, put on the extension set, and flush the line at what seemed to be all at the same time. I forgot about how you do not want to put the tape right over the hub of the catheter because when you go back in and try to assess the IV site – you're trying to assess whether or not it is patent or infiltrated – you have to visualize the insertion site. That was one of the things that I had been doing wrong because I was just so excited that I got the IV in the vein in the first place – that I did not think much about the tape or the tegaderm for sterility. So I think an important part of critical thinking is to be able to recognize when you've made a mistake and stop, stop yourself from doing it in the future (see Table 2 ).

Skills fair intervention as a developmental strategy for critical thinking . The participants identified the skills fair intervention was effective as a developmental strategy for critical thinking, as revealed in two themes: (1) develops alternative thinking and (2) thinking before doing (See Table 3 ).

Develops alternative thinking . The participants perceived the skills fair intervention helped enhance critical thinking and confidence by developing alternative thinking. Alternative thinking was described as quickly thinking of alternative solutions to problems based on the latest evidence and using that information to determine what actions were warranted to prevent complications and prevent injury. It helped make better connections through the learning of rationale between knowledge and skills and then applying that knowledge to prevent complications and errors to ensure the safety of patients. The participants stated the learning of rationale for certain procedures provided during the skills fair intervention such as the evidence and critical thinking prompts included in the rubrics helped reinforce this connection. The participants also shared they developed alternative thinking after participating in the skills fair intervention by noticing trends in data to prevent potential complications from the faculty prompts. Participant 1 stated her instructor prompted her alternative thinking through questioning about noticing trends to prevent potential complications. She said the following:

Another way critical thinking occurred during the skills fair was when [instructor name] was teaching and prompted us about what it would be like to care for a patient with a fractured hip – I think this was at the 10-minute focused assessment station, but I could be wrong. I remember her asking, “What do you need to be on the look-out for? What can go wrong?” I automatically did not think critically very well and was only thinking circulation in the leg, dah, dah, dah. But she was prompting us to think about mobility alterations and its effect on perfusion and oxygenation. She was trying to help us build those connections. And I think that's a lot of the aspects of critical thinking that gets overlooked with the nursing student – trouble making connections between our knowledge and applying it in practice.

Thinking before doing . The participants perceived thinking before doing, included thinking of how and why certain procedures, was necessary through self-examination prior to taking action. The hands-on situational learning allowed the participants in the skills fair intervention to better notice assessment data and think at a higher level as their previous learning of the skills was perceived as memorization of steps. This higher level of learning allowed participants to consider different future outcomes and analyze pertinent data before taking action.

I think what helped me the most is considering outcomes of my actions before I do anything. For instance, if you're thinking, “Okay. Well, I need to check their blood pressure before I administer this blood pressure medication – or the blood pressure could potentially bottom out.” I really do not want my patient to bottom out and get hypotensive because I administered a medication that was ordered, but not safe to give. I could prevent problems from happening if I know what to be on alert for and act accordingly. So ultimately knowing that in the clinical setting, I can prevent complications from happening and I save myself, my license, and promote patient safety. I think knowing that I've seen the importance of critical thinking already in practice has helped me value and understand why I should be critically thinking. Yes, we use the 5-rights of medication safety – but we also have to think. For instance, if I am going to administer insulin – what do I need to know or do to give this safely? What is the current blood sugar? Has the patient been eating? When is the next meal scheduled? Is the patient NPO for a procedure? Those are examples of questions to consider and the level of thinking that needs to take place prior to taking actions in the clinical setting.

Although the results of quantitative data showed no significant difference in scores on the KCTIT between the participant and nonparticipant groups, during the interviews some participants attributed this result to the test not being part of a course grade and believed students “did not try very hard to score well.” However, the participants who attended interviews did identify the skills fair intervention as a developmental strategy for critical thinking by helping them develop alternative thinking and thinking before doing. The findings are supported in the literature as (1) nurses must recognize signs of clinical deterioration and take action promptly to prevent potential complications ( Garvey and CNE series 2015 ) and (2) nurses must analyze pertinent data and consider all possible solutions before deciding on the most appropriate action for each patient ( Papathanasiou et al. , 2014 ).

The skills fair intervention also enhanced the development of self-confidence by participants practicing previously learned skills in a controlled, safe environment. The nonthreatening environment of the skills fair intervention allowed students to learn without fear and the majority of participants believed their critical thinking was strengthened after participating. The interview data also revealed a combination of internal and external factors that influenced the development of critical thinking during the skills fair intervention including confidence and anxiety levels, attitude, age, experience and practice, faculty involvement, positive learning environment and faculty prompts. These factors should be considered when addressing the promotion and development of critical thinking.

Conclusions, limitations and recommendations

A major concern in the nursing profession is the lack of critical thinking in student nurses and new graduates, which influences the decision-making of novice nurses and directly affects patient care and safety ( Saintsing et al. , 2011 ). Nurse educators must use evidence-based practice to prepare students to critically think with the complicated and constantly evolving environment of health care today ( Goodare, 2015 ; Newton and Moore, 2013 ). Evidence-based practice has been advocated to promote critical thinking ( Profetto-McGrath, 2005 ; Stanley and Dougherty, 2010 ). The skills fair intervention can be one type of evidence-based practice used to promote critical thinking ( McCausland and Meyers, 2013 ; Roberts et al. , 2009 ). The Intervention used in this study incorporated evidence-based practice rationale with critical thinking prompts using Socratic questioning, evidence-based practice videos to the psychomotor skill rubrics, group work, guided discussions, expert demonstration followed by guided practice and blended learning in an attempt to promote and develop critical thinking in nursing students.

The explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed to investigate the effects of the innovative skills fair intervention on senior baccalaureate nursing students' achievements and their perceptions of critical thinking skills development. Although the quantitative results showed no significant difference in scores on the KCTIT between students who participated in the skills fair intervention and those who did not, those who attended the interviews perceived their critical thinking was reinforced after the skills fair intervention and believed it was an effective developmental strategy for critical thinking, as it developed alternative thinking and thinking before doing. This information is useful for nurse educators who plan their own teaching practice to promote critical thinking and improve patient outcomes. The findings also provide schools and educators information that helps review their current approach in educating nursing students. As evidenced in the findings, the importance of developing critical thinking skills is crucial for becoming a safe, professional nurse. Internal and external factors impacting the development of critical thinking during the skills fair intervention were identified including confidence and anxiety levels, attitude, age, experience and practice, faculty involvement, positive learning environment and faculty prompts. These factors should be considered when addressing the promotion and development of critical thinking.

There were several limitations to this study. One of the major limitations of the study was the limited exposure of students' time of access to the skills fair intervention, as it was a one-day learning intervention. Another limitation was the sample selection and size. The skills fair intervention was limited to only one baccalaureate nursing program in one southeastern state. As such, the findings of the study cannot be generalized as it may not be representative of baccalaureate nursing programs in general. In addition, this study did not consider students' critical thinking achievements prior to the skills fair intervention. Therefore, no baseline measurement of critical thinking was available for a before and after comparison. Other factors in the nursing program could have affected the students' scores on the KCTIT, such as anxiety or motivation that was not taken into account in this study.

The recommendations for future research are to expand the topic by including other regions, larger samples and other baccalaureate nursing programs. In addition, future research should consider other participant perceptions, such as nurse educators, to better understand the development and growth of critical thinking skills among nursing students. Finally, based on participant perceptions, future research should include a more rigorous skills fair intervention to develop critical thinking and explore the link between confidence and critical thinking in nursing students.

Initial coding results

Factors impacting critical thinking skill development during skills fair intervention

Skills fair intervention as a developmental strategy for critical thinking

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OPINION article

Redefining critical thinking: teaching students to think like scientists.

$\r\nRodney M. Schmaltz*$

Department of Psychology, MacEwan University, Edmonton, AB, Canada

From primary to post-secondary school, critical thinking (CT) is an oft cited focus or key competency (e.g., DeAngelo et al., 2009 ; California Department of Education, 2014 ; Alberta Education, 2015 ; Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, n.d. ). Unfortunately, the definition of CT has become so broad that it can encompass nearly anything and everything (e.g., Hatcher, 2000 ; Johnson and Hamby, 2015 ). From discussion of Foucault, critique and the self ( Foucault, 1984 ) to Lawson's (1999) definition of CT as the ability to evaluate claims using psychological science, the term critical thinking has come to refer to an ever-widening range of skills and abilities. We propose that educators need to clearly define CT, and that in addition to teaching CT, a strong focus should be placed on teaching students how to think like scientists. Scientific thinking is the ability to generate, test, and evaluate claims, data, and theories (e.g., Bullock et al., 2009 ; Koerber et al., 2015 ). Simply stated, the basic tenets of scientific thinking provide students with the tools to distinguish good information from bad. Students have access to nearly limitless information, and the skills to understand what is misinformation or a questionable scientific claim is crucially important ( Smith, 2011 ), and these skills may not necessarily be included in the general teaching of critical thinking ( Wright, 2001 ).

This is an issue of more than semantics. While some definitions of CT include key elements of the scientific method (e.g., Lawson, 1999 ; Lawson et al., 2015 ), this emphasis is not consistent across all interpretations of CT ( Huber and Kuncel, 2016 ). In an attempt to provide a comprehensive, detailed definition of CT, the American Philosophical Association (APA), outlined six CT skills, 16 subskills, and 19 dispositions ( Facione, 1990 ). Skills include interpretation, analysis, and inference; dispositions include inquisitiveness and open-mindedness. 1 From our perspective, definitions of CT such as those provided by the APA or operationally defined by researchers in the context of a scholarly article (e.g., Forawi, 2016 ) are not problematic—the authors clearly define what they are referring to as CT. Potential problems arise when educators are using different definitions of CT, or when the banner of CT is applied to nearly any topic or pedagogical activity. Definitions such as those provided by the APA provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the multi-faceted nature of CT, however the definition is complex and may be difficult to work with at a policy level for educators, especially those who work primarily with younger students.

The need to develop scientific thinking skills is evident in studies showing that 55% of undergraduate students believe that a full moon causes people to behave oddly, and an estimated 67% of students believe creatures such as Bigfoot and Chupacabra exist, despite the lack of scientific evidence supporting these claims ( Lobato et al., 2014 ). Additionally, despite overwhelming evidence supporting the existence of anthropogenic climate change, and the dire need to mitigate its effects, many people still remain skeptical of climate change and its impact ( Feygina et al., 2010 ; Lewandowsky et al., 2013 ). One of the goals of education is to help students foster the skills necessary to be informed consumers of information ( DeAngelo et al., 2009 ), and providing students with the tools to think scientifically is a crucial component of reaching this goal. By focusing on scientific thinking in conjunction with CT, educators may be better able design specific policies that aim to facilitate the necessary skills students should have when they enter post-secondary training or the workforce. In other words, students should leave secondary school with the ability to rule out rival hypotheses, understand that correlation does not equal causation, the importance of falsifiability and replicability, the ability to recognize extraordinary claims, and use the principle of parsimony (e.g., Lett, 1990 ; Bartz, 2002 ).

Teaching scientific thinking is challenging, as people are vulnerable to trusting their intuitions and subjective observations and tend to prioritize them over objective scientific findings (e.g., Lilienfeld et al., 2012 ). Students and the public at large are prone to naïve realism, or the tendency to believe that our experiences and observations constitute objective reality ( Ross and Ward, 1996 ), when in fact our experiences and observations are subjective and prone to error (e.g., Kahneman, 2011 ). Educators at the post-secondary level tend to prioritize scientific thinking ( Lilienfeld, 2010 ), however many students do not continue on to a post-secondary program after they have completed high school. Further, students who are told they are learning critical thinking may believe they possess the skills to accurately assess the world around them. However, if they are not taught the specific skills needed to be scientifically literate, they may still fall prey to logical fallacies and biases. People tend to underestimate or not understand fallacies that can prevent them from making sound decisions ( Lilienfeld et al., 2001 ; Pronin et al., 2004 ; Lilienfeld, 2010 ). Thus, it is reasonable to think that a person who has not been adequately trained in scientific thinking would nonetheless consider themselves a strong critical thinker, and therefore would be even less likely consider his or her own personal biases. Another concern is that when teaching scientific thinking there is always the risk that students become overly critical or cynical (e.g., Mercier et al., 2017 ). By this, a student may be skeptical of nearly all findings, regardless of the supporting evidence. By incorporating and focusing on cognitive biases, instructors can help students understand their own biases, and demonstrate how the rigor of the scientific method can, at least partially, control for these biases.

Teaching CT remains controversial and confusing for many instructors ( Bensley and Murtagh, 2012 ). This is partly due to the lack of clarity in the definition of CT and the wide range of methods proposed to best teach CT ( Abrami et al., 2008 ; Bensley and Murtagh, 2012 ). For instance, Bensley and Spero (2014) found evidence for the effectiveness of direct approaches to teaching CT, a claim echoed in earlier research ( Abrami et al., 2008 ; Marin and Halpern, 2011 ). Despite their positive findings, some studies have failed to find support for measures of CT ( Burke et al., 2014 ) and others have found variable, yet positive, support for instructional methods ( Dochy et al., 2003 ). Unfortunately, there is a lack of research demonstrating the best pedagogical approaches to teaching scientific thinking at different grade levels. More research is needed to provide an empirically grounded approach to teach scientific thinking, and there is also a need to develop evidence based measures of scientific thinking that are grade and age appropriate. One approach to teaching scientific thinking may be to frame the topic in its simplest terms—the ability to “detect baloney” ( Sagan, 1995 ).

Sagan (1995) has promoted the tools necessary to recognize poor arguments, fallacies to avoid, and how to approach claims using the scientific method. The basic tenets of Sagan's argument apply to most claims, and have the potential to be an effective teaching tool across a range of abilities and ages. Sagan discusses the idea of a baloney detection kit, which contains the “tools” for skeptical thinking. The development of “baloney detection kits” which include age-appropriate scientific thinking skills may be an effective approach to teaching scientific thinking. These kits could include the style of exercises that are typically found under the banner of CT training (e.g., group discussions, evaluations of arguments) with a focus on teaching scientific thinking. An empirically validated kit does not yet exist, though there is much to draw from in the literature on pedagogical approaches to correcting cognitive biases, combatting pseudoscience, and teaching methodology (e.g., Smith, 2011 ). Further research is needed in this area to ensure that the correct, and age-appropriate, tools are part of any baloney detection kit.

Teaching Sagan's idea of baloney detection in conjunction with CT provides educators with a clear focus—to employ a pedagogical approach that helps students create sound and cogent arguments while avoiding falling prey to “baloney”. This is not to say that all of the information taught under the current banner of “critical thinking” is without value. In fact, many of the topics taught under the current approach of CT are important, even though they would not fit within the framework of some definitions of critical thinking. If educators want to ensure that students have the ability to be accurate consumers of information, a focus should be placed on including scientific thinking as a component of the science curriculum, as well as part of the broader teaching of CT.

Educators need to be provided with evidence-based approaches to teach the principles of scientific thinking. These principles should be taught in conjunction with evidence-based methods that mitigate the potential for fallacious reasoning and false beliefs. At a minimum, when students first learn about science, there should also be an introduction to the basics tenets of scientific thinking. Courses dedicated to promoting scientific thinking may also be effective. A course focused on cognitive biases, logical fallacies, and the hallmarks of scientific thinking adapted for each grade level may provide students with the foundation of solid scientific thinking skills to produce and evaluate arguments, and allow expansion of scientific thinking into other scholastic areas and classes. Evaluations of the efficacy of these courses would be essential, along with research to determine the best approach to incorporate scientific thinking into the curriculum.

If instructors know that students have at least some familiarity with the fundamental tenets of scientific thinking, the ability to expand and build upon these ideas in a variety of subject specific areas would further foster and promote these skills. For example, when discussing climate change, an instructor could add a brief discussion of why some people reject the science of climate change by relating this back to the information students will be familiar with from their scientific thinking courses. In terms of an issue like climate change, many students may have heard in political debates or popular culture that global warming trends are not real, or a “hoax” ( Lewandowsky et al., 2013 ). In this case, only teaching the data and facts may not be sufficient to change a student's mind about the reality of climate change ( Lewandowsky et al., 2012 ). Instructors would have more success by presenting students with the data on global warming trends as well as information on the biases that could lead some people reject the data ( Kowalski and Taylor, 2009 ; Lewandowsky et al., 2012 ). This type of instruction helps educators create informed citizens who are better able to guide future decision making and ensure that students enter the job market with the skills needed to be valuable members of the workforce and society as a whole.

By promoting scientific thinking, educators can ensure that students are at least exposed to the basic tenets of what makes a good argument, how to create their own arguments, recognize their own biases and those of others, and how to think like a scientist. There is still work to be done, as there is a need to put in place educational programs built on empirical evidence, as well as research investigating specific techniques to promote scientific thinking for children in earlier grade levels and develop measures to test if students have acquired the necessary scientific thinking skills. By using an evidence based approach to implement strategies to promote scientific thinking, and encouraging researchers to further explore the ideal methods for doing so, educators can better serve their students. When students are provided with the core ideas of how to detect baloney, and provided with examples of how baloney detection relates to the real world (e.g., Schmaltz and Lilienfeld, 2014 ), we are confident that they will be better able to navigate through the oceans of information available and choose the right path when deciding if information is valid.

Author Contribution

RS was the lead author and this paper, and both EJ and NW contributed equally.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: scientific thinking, critical thinking, teaching resources, skepticism, education policy

Citation: Schmaltz RM, Jansen E and Wenckowski N (2017) Redefining Critical Thinking: Teaching Students to Think like Scientists. Front. Psychol . 8:459. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00459

Received: 13 December 2016; Accepted: 13 March 2017; Published: 29 March 2017.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2017 Schmaltz, Jansen and Wenckowski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Rodney M. Schmaltz, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Visit the Quia Critical Thinking Quiz page and click on Start Now (you don’t need to enter your name). Select the best answer for each question, and then click on Submit Answers. A score of 70 percent or better on this quiz is considering passing.
Write a 200-400 word reflection on this activity. Based on the content of the questions, do you feel you use good critical thinking strategies in college? In what ways might you improve as a critical thinker?

Worked Example

Journal entry assignments tend to be more flexible than other types of writing assignments in college, and as a result they can be tailored to your own experiences as long as they answer the primary questions asked in the assignment.

One model of a successful entry about this topic can be found below. Feel free to include your own experiences and examples from real life as they pertain to the issue at hand.

Critical Thinking Journal Entry

by Sandy Brown

The thing I like about critical thinking is that is applies to everything. If you get better at using critical thinking in school, that means other things in life get easier, as well (at least that’s what I hope is true).

I didn’t do so great on the critical thinking quiz. I got a 50% the first time, but I think I would have done better if I had understood the questions more clearly. Question #9, the one about having autonomy, I got wrong because I thought it was saying it was important, rather than it wasn’t. Now that I think about it, I guess that’s an example of where I could be a better critical thinker—I could take the time to read these questions more closely, and be sure that my answer makes sense to what the question actually asks, rather than what I think it asks.

I was happy with parts of this, though. There were a couple of questions about fair-mindedness, and I got both those right, even though I didn’t remember seeing the words “fair-mindedness” in the textbook. That phrase makes a lot more sense to me than “first order” and “second order” thinking.

For me, I think that I’m a better thinker when I’m not in a rush. I tend to panic when I take tests, and then I answer questions too quickly. For things that don’t have a timer, like homework or out-of-class assignments, I tend to do a lot better because I can take as long as I need to figure out what exactly I’m supposed to do. So I guess one way to improve my critical thinking skills would be to practice going slower for timed tests, and giving myself time to check my answers before turning something in. I don’t want to make mistakes like the one I did on this quiz, when it counts against my actual grade.

Try It: Critical Thinking. Authored by : Linda Bruce. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.candelalearning.com/lumencollegesuccess/chapter/critical-thinking-skills/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

Module 1: Success Skills

Assignment: critical thinking journal entry.

Visit the Quia Critical Thinking Quiz page and click on Start Now (you don’t need to enter your name). Select the best answer for each question, and then click on Submit Answers. A score of 70 percent or better on this quiz is considering passing.
Write a 200–400 word reflection on this activity. Based on the content of the questions, do you feel you use good critical thinking strategies in college? In what ways might you improve as a critical thinker?

Worked Example

One model of a successful entry about this topic can be found below. Feel free to include your own experiences and examples from real life as they pertain to the issue at hand.

Critical Thinking Journal Entry by Sandy Brown The thing I like about critical thinking is that is applies to everything. If you get better at using critical thinking in school, that means other things in life get easier, as well (at least that’s what I hope is true). I didn’t do so great on the critical thinking quiz. I got a 50% the first time, but I think I would have done better if I had understood the questions more clearly. Question #9, the one about having autonomy, I got wrong because I thought it was saying it was important, rather than it wasn’t. Now that I think about it, I guess that’s an example of where I could be a better critical thinker—I could take the time to read these questions more closely, and be sure that my answer makes sense to what the question actually asks, rather than what I think it asks. I was happy with parts of this, though. There were a couple of questions about fair-mindedness, and I got both those right, even though I didn’t remember seeing the words “fair-mindedness” in the textbook. That phrase makes a lot more sense to me than “first order” and “second order” thinking. For me, I think that I’m a better thinker when I’m not in a rush. I tend to panic when I take tests, and then I answer questions too quickly. For things that don’t have a timer, like homework or out-of-class assignments, I tend to do a lot better because I can take as long as I need to figure out what exactly I’m supposed to do. So I guess one way to improve my critical thinking skills would be to practice going slower for timed tests, and giving myself time to check my answers before turning something in. I don’t want to make mistakes like the one I did on this quiz, when it counts against my actual grade.

Try It: Critical Thinking. Authored by : Linda Bruce. Provided by : Lumen Learning. Located at : https://courses.candelalearning.com/lumencollegesuccess/chapter/critical-thinking-skills/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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J Adv Med Educ Prof
v.2(3); 2014 Jul

The role of critical thinking skills and learning styles of university students in their academic performance

Zohre ghazivakili.

1 Emergency medical services department, Paramedical school, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran;

ROOHANGIZ NOROUZI NIA

2 Educational Development Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran;

FARIDE PANAHI

3 Nursing and midwifery school, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran;

MEHRDAD KARIMI

4 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Public Health School, Tehran, Iran;

HAYEDE GHOLSORKHI

5 Medical school, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran;

ZARRIN AHMADI

6 Amirkabir University of Technology(Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran

Introduction: The Current world needs people who have a lot of different abilities such as cognition and application of different ways of thinking, research, problem solving, critical thinking skills and creativity. In addition to critical thinking, learning styles is another key factor which has an essential role in the process of problem solving. This study aimed to determine the relationship between learning styles and critical thinking of students and their academic performance in Alborz University of Medical Science.

Methods: This cross-correlation study was performed in 2012, on 216 students of Alborz University who were selected randomly by the stratified random sampling. The data was obtained via a three-part questionnaire included demographic data, Kolb standardized questionnaire of learning style and California critical thinking standardized questionnaire. The academic performance of the students was extracted by the school records. The validity of the instruments was determined in terms of content validity, and the reliability was gained through internal consistency methods. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.78 for the California critical thinking questionnaire. The Chi Square test, Independent t-test, one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were used to determine relationship between variables. The Package SPSS14 statistical software was used to analyze data with a significant level of p<0.05.

Results: Our findings indicated the significant difference of mean score in four learning style, suggesting university students with convergent learning style have better performance than other groups. Also learning style had a relationship with age, gender, field of study, semester and job. The results about the critical thinking of the students showed that the mean of deductive reasoning and evaluation skills were higher than that of other skills and analytical skills had the lowest mean and there was a positive significant relationship between the students’ performance with inferential skill and the total score of critical thinking skills (p<0.05). Furthermore, evaluation skills and deductive reasoning had significant relationship. On the other hand, the mean total score of critical thinking had significant difference between different learning styles.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the learning styles, critical thinking and academic performance are significantly associated with one another. Considering the growing importance of critical thinking in enhancing the professional competence of individuals, it's recommended to use teaching methods consistent with the learning style because it would be more effective in this context.

Introduction

The current world needs people with a lot of capabilities such as understanding and using different ways of thinking, research, problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. Critical thinking is one of the aspects of thinking that has been accepted as a way to overcome the difficulties and to facilitate the access to information in life ( 1 ).

To Watson and Glizer, critical thinking is a combination of knowledge, attitude, and performance of every individual. They also believe that there are some skills of critical thinking such as perception, assumption recognition deduction, interpretation and evaluation of logical reasoning. They argue that the ability of critical thinking, processing and evaluation of previous information with new information result from inductive and deductive reasoning of solving problems. Watson and Glizer definition of critical thinking has been the basis of critical thinking tests that are widely used to measure the critical thinking today ( 2 ).

World Federation for Medical Education has considered critical thinking one of the medical training standards so that in accredited colleges this subject is one of the key points. In fact, one of the criteria for the accreditation of a learning institute is the measurement of critical thinking in its students ( 3 ).

In addition to critical thinking, learning style, i.e. the information processing method, of the learners, is an important key factor that has a major role in problem solving. According to David Kolb’s theory, learning is a four-step process that includes concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. This position represents two dimensions: concrete experience versus abstract thinking, and reflective observation to active experimentation. These dimensions include four learning styles: divergent, convergent, assimilate, and accommodate. According to Kolb and Ferry, the learner needs four different abilities to function efficiently: Learning styles involve several variables such as academic performance of learner, higher education improvement; critical thinking and problem solving ( 4 ).

Due to the importance of learning styles and critical thinking in students' academic performance, a large volume of educational research has been devoted to these issues in different countries. Demirhan, Besoluk and Onder (2011) in their study on critical thinking and students’ academic performance from the first semester to two years later have found that contrary to expectations the students’ critical thinking level reduced but the total mean of students’ scores increased. This is due to the fact that the students are likely to increase adaptive behavior with environment and university and reduce the stress during their education ( 1 ).

In another study over 330 students in Turkey, the students who had divergent learning style, had lower scores in critical thinking in contrast with students who have accommodator learning style ( 5 ).

Also Mahmoud examined the relationship between critical thinking and learning styles of the Bachelor students with their academic performance in 2012. In this study all the nursing students of the university in the semesters four, six and eight were studied. The results did not show any significant relationship between critical thinking and learning styles of nursing students with their academic performance ( 6 ).

Another research by Nasrabadi in 2012 showed a positive relationship between critical thinking attitudes and student's academic achievement. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the levels of critical thinking of assimilating and converge styles. Also converging, diverging, assimilating and accommodating styles had the highest level of critical thinking, respectively ( 4 ). Among other studies we can refer to Sharma’s study in 2011 whose results suggested a relationship between the academic performance and learning styles ( 7 ).

Today university students should not only think but also should think differently and should not only remember the knowledge in their mind but also should research the best learning style among different learning styles. Therefore, the study on the topic of how the students think and how they learn has received great emphasis in recent years. In this regard, with the importance of the subject, researchers attempted to doa research in this area to determine the relationship between critical thinking and learning styles with academic performance of the students at Alborz University of Medical Sciences.

This study is a descriptive-analytic, cross sectional study and investigates the relationship between critical thinking and learning styles with students’ academic performance of Alborz University of Medical Science in 2012. After approval and permission from university’s authorities and in coordination with official faculties, the critical thinking and learning styles questionnaire was given to the undergraduate students in associate degree, bachelor, medicine (second semester and after that). The total number of participants in the study was 216 students with different majors such as medical, nursing and midwifery, and health and medical emergency students. The tool to collect the data was a two-part questionnaire of Kolb's learning styles and California's critical thinking skills test (form B). The Kolb's questionnaire has two parts. The first part asks for demographic information and the second part includes 12 multiple choice questions. The participants respond to the questions with regard to how they learn, and the scores of respondents are ranked from 1 to 4 in which 4 is most consistent with the participants’ learning style 3 to some extent, 2 poorly consistent and 1 not consistent To find the participants’ learning styles, the first choice of all 12 questions were added together and this was repeated for other choices. Thus, four total scores for the four learning styles were obtained, the first for concrete experience learning style, the second for reflective observation of learning style, the third for abstract conceptualization learning style and the forth for active experimentation learning style. The highest score determined the learning style of the participant. The California critical thinking skills test (form B) includes 34 multiple choice questions with one correct answer in five different areas of critical thinking skills, including evaluation, inference, analysis, inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. The answering time was 45 minutes and the final score is 34 and the achieved score in each section of the test varies from 0 to 16. In the evaluation section, the maximum point is 14, in analysis section 9, in inference section 11, in inductive reasoning 16 and in deductive reasoning the maximum point was 14. So there were 6 scores for each participant, which included a critical thinking total score and 5 score for critical thinking skills. Dehghani, Jafari Sani, Pakmehr and Malekzadeh found that the reliability of the questionnaire was 78% in a research. In the study of Khalili et al., the confidence coefficient was 62% and construct validity of all subscales with positive and high correlation were reported between 60%-65%. So this test was reliable for the research. Collecting the information was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the questionnaires were given to the students and the objectives and importance of the research were mentioned. In the next stage, the students' academic performance was reviewed. After data collection, the data were coded and analyzed, using the SPSS 14 ( SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) software. To describe the data, descriptive statistics were used such as mean and standard deviation for continues variables and frequency for qualitative variables. Chi Square test, Independent t-test, one way ANOVA and Pearson correlation test were used to determine the relationship between variables at a significant level of p<0.05.

Research hypothesis

There is a relationship between Alborz University of Medical Sciences students’ learning styles and their demographic information.
There is a relationship between Alborz University of Medical Sciences students’ critical thinking and their demographic information.
There is a relationship between Alborz University of Medical Sciences students’ academic performance and their demographic information.
There is a relationship between Alborz University of Medical Sciences students’ learning styles and their academic performance.
There is a relationship between Alborz University of Medical Sciences students’ learning styles and their critical thinking.

225 questionnaires were distributed of which 216 were completely responded (96%). The age range of the participants was from 16 to 45 with the mean age of (22.44±3.7). 52.8% of participants (n=114) were female, 83.3% (n=180) were single, 30.1% of participants’ (n=65) major was pediatric anesthesiology of OR, 35.2% of participants (n=76) were in fourth semester, 74.5% (n=161) were unemployed and 48.6 % (n=105) had Persian ethnicity.

The range of participants’ average grade points, which were considered as their academic performance, were from 12.51 to 19.07 with a mean of (16.75±1.3). According to Kolbs' pattern, 42.7% (n=85) had the convergent learning style (the maximum percentage) followed by 33.2 % (n= 66) with the assimilating style and only 9.5%, (n= 19) with the accommodating style (the minimum percentage).

Among the 5 critical thinking skills, the maximum mean score belonged to deductive reasoning skill (3.38±1.58) and the minimum mean score belonged to analysis skill (1.67±1.08).

Table 1 shows the frequency distribution and demographic variables and the academic performance of the students. According to the Chi-square (Χ 2 ) p-value, there was a significant relationship between gender and learning style (p=0.032), so that nearly 50 percent of males had the assimilating learning style and nearly 52 percent of the females had the convergent learning style.

The relationship between demographic variable and student’s academic performance with learning styles

The relationship between employment, major and semester of studying with the learning style was significant at a p-value of 0.049, 0.006, 0.009 and 0.001, respectively. The mean and standard deviation of age and students' academic performance in the four learning styles are reported in Table 1 .

Using the one way analysis of variance (One way ANOVA) and comparing the mean age of four groups, we found a significant relation between age and academic performance with learning style (p=0.049).

The students with convergent learning style had a better academic performance than those with other learning styles and in the performance of those with the assimilating learning style the weakest.

Table 2 shows the relationship between the total score of critical thinking skills and each of the demographic variables and academic performance. The results of the t-test and one way ANOVA variance analysis are reported to investigate the relationship between each variable with skills below the mean standard deviation.

Relationships between CCT Skills and demographic variables Using t-test and ANOVA. Pearson Correlation coefficient between age and Student's performance with CCT Skills was reported

* Significant in surface 0.05

** Significant in surface 0.01

Based on the t-test and ANOVA, p-value of t and F, the mean of total score of critical thinking skills had only significant relationship with students’ major (p=0.020). Also a significant relationship was found between the major of students and gender with inference skill; semester of study with deductive reasoning skill, and ethnicity with 2 skills of inference and deductive reasoning (p<0.05).

Also regarding the relationship between age and the student academic performance with each of the critical thinking skills, the Pearson correlation coefficient results indicated a significant positive relationship but a negative relationship between age and analysis skill, i.e. with the increase of age, the score of analysis skill was reduced (p<0.05). Academic performance of the students had a direct significant relationship with critical thinking total score and inference skill; the more the score, the better the academic performance of students (p<0.05).

Table 3 shows the mean and standard deviation of learning styles score in the 4 groups of learning style. Using ANOVA one way ANOVA, the relationship between learning style and critical thinking skills and the comparison of the mean score for each skill in four styles are reported in the last column of the Table 3 .

The Relationship between critical thinking styles with learning styles

Based on the p-value of ANOVA, the mean of evaluation skill and inductive reasoning skill had a significant difference and the relationship between these two skills with learning style was significant (p<0.05). Also the mean of critical thinking’s total score was significantly different in the four groups and the relationship between total score with learning style was significant, too (p<0.05).

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The mean and confidence interval of university students’ performance in four learning styles

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The mean and confidene interval of critical thinking skills

The study findings showed that the popular learning style among the students was the convergent style followed by the assimilating style which is consistent with Kolb's theory stating that medical science students usually have this learning style ( 8 ). This result was consistent with the results of other studies ( 9 , 10 ). In Yenice's study in which the student of training teacher were the target of the project, the most frequent learning styles were divergent and assimilating styles and these differences originate from the different target group of study in 2012 ( 11 ).

This study showed a significant relationship between learning style and gender, age, semester and employment. Meyari et al. did not find any significant relationship between learning style, age and gender of the freshman but for the fifth semester students, a significant relationship with age and gender was found ( 10 ). Also in Yenice's study, no relationship with learning style, gender, semester and age was found.

Furthermore, in the first semester divergent style, in the second semester assimilating style and in the third and fourth semester divergent style were accounted for the highest percentage. Also in the group age of 17-20 years the assimilating style and the age of 21-24 years the divergent style were dominant styles ( 11 ).

In the present study, it was found a significant positive relationship between convergent learning style and academic performance. Also in the study of Pooladi et al. the majority of the students had convergent style and they also found a significant relationship between learning style, total mean score and the mean of practical courses ( 12 ). Nasrabadi et al. found that students with the highest achievement were those with convergent style with a significant difference with those with divergent style ( 4 ). But the results are inconsistent to Meyari et al.’s ( 10 ).

In this study, the obtained mean score from the critical thinking questionnaire was (7.15±2.41) that was compared with that in the study of Khalili and Hoseinzadeh which was to validate and make reliable the critical thinking skills questionnaire of California (form B) in the Iranian nursing students; the mean of total score was about the 11th percentile of this study ( 13 ).

In other words, the computed score for critical thinking of the students participating was lower than 11 score that is in the 50th percentile and of course is lower than normal range.

Hariri and Bagherinezhad had shown that the computed score for Bachelor and Master students of Health faculty was also lower than the norm in Iran ( 14 ). Also Mayer and Dayer came to a similar conclusion in critical thinking skill in the Agricultural university of Florida’s students in 2006 ( 15 ).

But in Gharib et al.’s study, the total score of critical thinking test among the freshman and senior of Health-care management was in normal range ( 16 ). Wangensteen et al., found that the critical thinking skills of the newest graduate nursing students were relatively high in Sweden in 2010 ( 17 ).

In this study, students of all levels (Associate, Bachelor and PhD) with various fields of study participated but other studies have been limited to certain graduate courses that may explain the differences in levels of special critical thinking skills score in this study. In this study we found a significant relationship between total score of critical thinking and major of the students. This result is consistent with Serin et al. ( 18 ).

It was found a significant relationship between major of participants, gender and inference skill, semester and deductive reasoning skill, ethnicity and both inference and deductive reasoning skills.

In the Yenice's study significant relationship between critical thinking, group of age, gender and semester was seen ( 11 ). In Wangensteen et al.’s ( 17 ) study in the older age group, the level of critical thinking score increased. In Serin et al.’s ( 18 ) study the level of communication skills in girls was better than that in boys. And also a significant relationship was found between critical thinking and academic semester, but in Mayer and Dayer’s study no significant relationship between critical thinking levels and gender was found ( 4 , 15 ).

The results also showed that the total score of critical thinking and analytical skills of students and their performance had a significant relationship. Nasrabady et al.’s study also showed that there was a positive relationship between critical thinking reflection attitude and academic achievement ( 4 ). This is contradictory with what Demirhan, Bosluk and Ander found ( 6 , 15 ).

The results of the relationship between learning style and critical thinking indicated that the relationship between evaluation and inductive reasoning was significant to learning style (p<0.05). The relationship of critical thinking total score with learning style was also significant (p<0.05). Thus the total score for those with the conforming style of critical skills was more than that with other styles. But in the subgroup of inference skills, those with the convergent style had a higher mean than those with other styles.

Yenice found a negative relationship between critical thinking score and divergent learning style and a positive relation between critical thinking score and accommodating style ( 11 ).

Siriopoulos and Pomonis in their study compared the learning style and critical thinking skills of students in two phases: at the beginning and end of education and came to this conclusion that the learning style of students changed in the second phase.

For example, the divergent, convergent and accommodating styles languished and the assimilating style (combination of abstract thinking and reflective observation) was noticeably strengthened. However, those with converging learning style had higher levels of critical thinking.

The level of students’ critical thinking was lower in all international standards styles. Perhaps it was because of widely used teacher-centered teaching methods (lectures) in that university ( 19 ).

The results in the study of Nasrabady et al. showed that there was a significant difference between the level of learners’ critical thinking and divergent and assimilating styles ( 4 ).

Those with converging, diverging, assimilating and accommodating styles had the highest level of critical thinking, respectively.

Also there was a positive significant relationship between the reflective observation method and critical thinking and also a negative significant relationship between the abstract conceptualization method and critical thinking ( 4 ). But in another study that Mahmud has done in 2012, he did not find any significant relationship between learning style, critical thinking and students’ performance ( 6 ).

The results of this study showed that the students’ critical thinking skills of this university aren't acceptable. Also learning styles, critical thinking and academic performance have significant relationship with each other. Due to the important role of critical thinking in enhancing professional competence, it is recommend using teaching methods which are consistent with the learning styles.

Acknowledgment

This study is based on a research project that was approved in Research Deputy of Alborz University of Medical sciences. We sincerely appreciate all in Research Deputy of Alborz University of Medical sciences who supported us financially and morally and all students and colleagues who participated in this study.

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

References:

The Value of Critical Thinking in Nursing

How Nurses Use Critical Thinking
How to Improve Critical Thinking
Common Mistakes

Some experts describe a person’s ability to question belief systems, test previously held assumptions, and recognize ambiguity as evidence of critical thinking. Others identify specific skills that demonstrate critical thinking, such as the ability to identify problems and biases, infer and draw conclusions, and determine the relevance of information to a situation.

Nicholas McGowan, BSN, RN, CCRN, has been a critical care nurse for 10 years in neurological trauma nursing and cardiovascular and surgical intensive care. He defines critical thinking as “necessary for problem-solving and decision-making by healthcare providers. It is a process where people use a logical process to gather information and take purposeful action based on their evaluation.”

“This cognitive process is vital for excellent patient outcomes because it requires that nurses make clinical decisions utilizing a variety of different lenses, such as fairness, ethics, and evidence-based practice,” he says.

How Do Nurses Use Critical Thinking?

Successful nurses think beyond their assigned tasks to deliver excellent care for their patients. For example, a nurse might be tasked with changing a wound dressing, delivering medications, and monitoring vital signs during a shift. However, it requires critical thinking skills to understand how a difference in the wound may affect blood pressure and temperature and when those changes may require immediate medical intervention.

Nurses care for many patients during their shifts. Strong critical thinking skills are crucial when juggling various tasks so patient safety and care are not compromised.

Jenna Liphart Rhoads, Ph.D., RN, is a nurse educator with a clinical background in surgical-trauma adult critical care, where critical thinking and action were essential to the safety of her patients. She talks about examples of critical thinking in a healthcare environment, saying:

“Nurses must also critically think to determine which patient to see first, which medications to pass first, and the order in which to organize their day caring for patients. Patient conditions and environments are continually in flux, therefore nurses must constantly be evaluating and re-evaluating information they gather (assess) to keep their patients safe.”

The COVID-19 pandemic created hospital care situations where critical thinking was essential. It was expected of the nurses on the general floor and in intensive care units. Crystal Slaughter is an advanced practice nurse in the intensive care unit (ICU) and a nurse educator. She observed critical thinking throughout the pandemic as she watched intensive care nurses test the boundaries of previously held beliefs and master providing excellent care while preserving resources.

“Nurses are at the patient’s bedside and are often the first ones to detect issues. Then, the nurse needs to gather the appropriate subjective and objective data from the patient in order to frame a concise problem statement or question for the physician or advanced practice provider,” she explains.

Top 5 Ways Nurses Can Improve Critical Thinking Skills

We asked our experts for the top five strategies nurses can use to purposefully improve their critical thinking skills.

Case-Based Approach

Slaughter is a fan of the case-based approach to learning critical thinking skills.

In much the same way a detective would approach a mystery, she mentors her students to ask questions about the situation that help determine the information they have and the information they need. “What is going on? What information am I missing? Can I get that information? What does that information mean for the patient? How quickly do I need to act?”

Consider forming a group and working with a mentor who can guide you through case studies. This provides you with a learner-centered environment in which you can analyze data to reach conclusions and develop communication, analytical, and collaborative skills with your colleagues.

Practice Self-Reflection

Rhoads is an advocate for self-reflection. “Nurses should reflect upon what went well or did not go well in their workday and identify areas of improvement or situations in which they should have reached out for help.” Self-reflection is a form of personal analysis to observe and evaluate situations and how you responded.

This gives you the opportunity to discover mistakes you may have made and to establish new behavior patterns that may help you make better decisions. You likely already do this. For example, after a disagreement or contentious meeting, you may go over the conversation in your head and think about ways you could have responded.

It’s important to go through the decisions you made during your day and determine if you should have gotten more information before acting or if you could have asked better questions.

During self-reflection, you may try thinking about the problem in reverse. This may not give you an immediate answer, but can help you see the situation with fresh eyes and a new perspective. How would the outcome of the day be different if you planned the dressing change in reverse with the assumption you would find a wound infection? How does this information change your plan for the next dressing change?

Develop a Questioning Mind

McGowan has learned that “critical thinking is a self-driven process. It isn’t something that can simply be taught. Rather, it is something that you practice and cultivate with experience. To develop critical thinking skills, you have to be curious and inquisitive.”

To gain critical thinking skills, you must undergo a purposeful process of learning strategies and using them consistently so they become a habit. One of those strategies is developing a questioning mind. Meaningful questions lead to useful answers and are at the core of critical thinking .

However, learning to ask insightful questions is a skill you must develop. Faced with staff and nursing shortages , declining patient conditions, and a rising number of tasks to be completed, it may be difficult to do more than finish the task in front of you. Yet, questions drive active learning and train your brain to see the world differently and take nothing for granted.

It is easier to practice questioning in a non-stressful, quiet environment until it becomes a habit. Then, in the moment when your patient’s care depends on your ability to ask the right questions, you can be ready to rise to the occasion.

Practice Self-Awareness in the Moment

Critical thinking in nursing requires self-awareness and being present in the moment. During a hectic shift, it is easy to lose focus as you struggle to finish every task needed for your patients. Passing medication, changing dressings, and hanging intravenous lines all while trying to assess your patient’s mental and emotional status can affect your focus and how you manage stress as a nurse .

Staying present helps you to be proactive in your thinking and anticipate what might happen, such as bringing extra lubricant for a catheterization or extra gloves for a dressing change.

By staying present, you are also better able to practice active listening. This raises your assessment skills and gives you more information as a basis for your interventions and decisions.

Use a Process

As you are developing critical thinking skills, it can be helpful to use a process. For example:

Ask questions.
Gather information.
Implement a strategy.
Evaluate the results.
Consider another point of view.

These are the fundamental steps of the nursing process (assess, diagnose, plan, implement, evaluate). The last step will help you overcome one of the common problems of critical thinking in nursing — personal bias.

Common Critical Thinking Pitfalls in Nursing

Your brain uses a set of processes to make inferences about what’s happening around you. In some cases, your unreliable biases can lead you down the wrong path. McGowan places personal biases at the top of his list of common pitfalls to critical thinking in nursing.

“We all form biases based on our own experiences. However, nurses have to learn to separate their own biases from each patient encounter to avoid making false assumptions that may interfere with their care,” he says. Successful critical thinkers accept they have personal biases and learn to look out for them. Awareness of your biases is the first step to understanding if your personal bias is contributing to the wrong decision.

New nurses may be overwhelmed by the transition from academics to clinical practice, leading to a task-oriented mindset and a common new nurse mistake ; this conflicts with critical thinking skills.

“Consider a patient whose blood pressure is low but who also needs to take a blood pressure medication at a scheduled time. A task-oriented nurse may provide the medication without regard for the patient’s blood pressure because medication administration is a task that must be completed,” Slaughter says. “A nurse employing critical thinking skills would address the low blood pressure, review the patient’s blood pressure history and trends, and potentially call the physician to discuss whether medication should be withheld.”

Fear and pride may also stand in the way of developing critical thinking skills. Your belief system and worldview provide comfort and guidance, but this can impede your judgment when you are faced with an individual whose belief system or cultural practices are not the same as yours. Fear or pride may prevent you from pursuing a line of questioning that would benefit the patient. Nurses with strong critical thinking skills exhibit:

Learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of other nurses
Look forward to integrating changes that improve patient care
Treat each patient interaction as a part of a whole
Evaluate new events based on past knowledge and adjust decision-making as needed
Solve problems with their colleagues
Are self-confident
Acknowledge biases and seek to ensure these do not impact patient care

An Essential Skill for All Nurses

Critical thinking in nursing protects patient health and contributes to professional development and career advancement. Administrative and clinical nursing leaders are required to have strong critical thinking skills to be successful in their positions.

By using the strategies in this guide during your daily life and in your nursing role, you can intentionally improve your critical thinking abilities and be rewarded with better patient outcomes and potential career advancement.

Frequently Asked Questions About Critical Thinking in Nursing

How are critical thinking skills utilized in nursing practice.

Nursing practice utilizes critical thinking skills to provide the best care for patients. Often, the patient’s cause of pain or health issue is not immediately clear. Nursing professionals need to use their knowledge to determine what might be causing distress, collect vital information, and make quick decisions on how best to handle the situation.

How does nursing school develop critical thinking skills?

Nursing school gives students the knowledge professional nurses use to make important healthcare decisions for their patients. Students learn about diseases, anatomy, and physiology, and how to improve the patient’s overall well-being. Learners also participate in supervised clinical experiences, where they practice using their critical thinking skills to make decisions in professional settings.

Do only nurse managers use critical thinking?

Nurse managers certainly use critical thinking skills in their daily duties. But when working in a health setting, anyone giving care to patients uses their critical thinking skills. Everyone — including licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, and advanced nurse practitioners —needs to flex their critical thinking skills to make potentially life-saving decisions.

Meet Our Contributors

Crystal Slaughter, DNP, APRN, ACNS-BC, CNE

Crystal Slaughter is a core faculty member in Walden University’s RN-to-BSN program. She has worked as an advanced practice registered nurse with an intensivist/pulmonary service to provide care to hospitalized ICU patients and in inpatient palliative care. Slaughter’s clinical interests lie in nursing education and evidence-based practice initiatives to promote improving patient care.

Jenna Liphart Rhoads, Ph.D., RN

Jenna Liphart Rhoads is a nurse educator and freelance author and editor. She earned a BSN from Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing and an MS in nursing education from Northern Illinois University. Rhoads earned a Ph.D. in education with a concentration in nursing education from Capella University where she researched the moderation effects of emotional intelligence on the relationship of stress and GPA in military veteran nursing students. Her clinical background includes surgical-trauma adult critical care, interventional radiology procedures, and conscious sedation in adult and pediatric populations.

Nicholas McGowan, BSN, RN, CCRN

Nicholas McGowan is a critical care nurse with 10 years of experience in cardiovascular, surgical intensive care, and neurological trauma nursing. McGowan also has a background in education, leadership, and public speaking. He is an online learner who builds on his foundation of critical care nursing, which he uses directly at the bedside where he still practices. In addition, McGowan hosts an online course at Critical Care Academy where he helps nurses achieve critical care (CCRN) certification.

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Articles on Critical Thinking

Listed below are articles on Critical Thinking. Short summaries and citations are provided when available.

Allen, Robert D. “Intellectual Development and the Understanding of Science: Applications of William Perry’s Theory to Science Teaching.”

Arons, Arnold B. “‘Critical Thinking’ and the Baccalaureate Curriculum.”
Baker, Paul J. “Learning Sociology and Assessing Critical Thinking”
Bean, John. “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts.”
Berthoff, Ann. “Speculative Instruments: Language in the Core Curriculum.”
Brand, Manny. “Toward a Better Understanding of Undergraduate Music Education Majors: Perry’s Perspective.”
Brouwer, Peter. “Hold on a Minute Here: What Happened to Critical Thinking in the Information Age?”
Bruffee, Kenneth. “Constructive Reading.”
Bruffee, Kenneth A. “Writing and Reading as Collaborative or Social Acts.”
Carpenter, C. Blaine, and James C. Doig. “Assessing Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum.”
Carr, Kathryn S. “How Can We Teach Critical Thinking?”
Ellis, Edwin S. “Integrating Writing Strategy Instruction with Content-Area Instruction: Part II–Writing Processes.”
Gleichsner, Jean A. “Using Journal Articles to Integrate Critical Thinking with Computer and Writing Skills”
King, Patricia M., Phillip K. Wood, and Robert A. Mines. “Problem Structure, Tests of Critical Thinking and Disciplinary Differences: A Study of Critical Thinking Among College and Graduate Students.”
Kiniry, Malcolm and Ellen Strenski. “Sequencing Expository Writing: A Recursive Approach.”
Kitchener, Karen S., and Patricia M. King. “The Reflective Judgment Model: Transforming Assumptions About Knowing.”
Kitchener, Karen Strohm. “Educational Goals and Reflective Thinking.”
Kitchener, Karen Strohm, and Patricia M. King. “The Reflective Judgment Model: Ten Years of Research.”
Kloss, Robert J. “A Nudge is Best: Helping Students through the Perry Scheme of Intellectual Development.”
Law, Joe. “Critical Thinking and Computer-aided Instruction in Sociology 200.”
Law, Joe. “Uncritical `Critical Thinking’: Reexamining Current Paradigms.”
McPeck, John E. “The Meaning of Critical Thinking.”
Moll, Michael B., and Robert D. Allen. “Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Biology.”
Nelson, Craig E. “Critical Thinking and Collaborative Learning.”
Nelson, Craig E. “Fostering Critical Thinking and Mature Valuing Across the Curriculum: Comments & Conversations”
Nelson, Craig E. “Skewered on the Unicorn’s Horn: The Illusion of Tragic Tradeoff Between Content and Critical Thinking in the Teaching of Science.”
Olson, Carol Booth. “The Thinking/Writing Connection.”
Paul, Richard. “Teaching Critical Thinking in the ‘Strong’ Sense: A Focus on Self-Deception, World Views, and a Dialectical Mode of Analysis.”
Perry, William G., Jr. “Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning”
Slattery, Patrick. “Encouraging Critical Thinking: A Strategy of Commenting on College Papers.”
Smith, Raymond. “Sequenced Microthemes: A Great Deal of Thinking for Your Students, and Relatively Little Grading for You.”
Tallman, Julie. “Connecting Writing and Research through the I-Search Paper: A Teaching Partnership Between the Library Program and Classroom.”
Thoma, George A. “The Perry Framework and Tactics for Teaching Critical Thinking in Economics.”
Thompson, Jan C. “Beyond Fixing Today’s Paper: Promoting Metacognition and Writing Development in the Tutorial through Self-Questioning.”
Turner, Michele. “Writing Across the Curriculum and Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing 414.”
“Two Ways of Approaching Cognitive and Ethical Development.”

Science students often experience difficulties as a result of their inability to see that multiple interpretations of the same data can coexist. Perry’s scheme helps show that such students are not lazy, but rather that their perceptions are limited by their stage of development. Understanding the different stages may help science teachers consider the best ways of presenting material in order to help students make the transition from one stage to the next.

Arons, Arnold B. “‘Critical Thinking’ and the Baccalaureate Curriculum.” Liberal Education 71.2 (1985): 141-157.

First asks, “What is involved in critical thinking?” Answers: Asking “how do we know? What is the evidence?” Being aware of gaps in knowledge. Distinguishing between fact and conjecture. Distinguishing between an idea and the name of that idea, and providing definitions. Looking for (hidden) assumptions. Performing hypothetico-deductive reasoning. Knowing inductive and deductive reasoning. Intellectual self-reliance. Being aware of own thinking process. Then discusses why one should bother with critical thinking, bemoans the lack of it in American students, and discusses how to increase or decrease it in students.

Baker, Paul J. “Learning Sociology and Assessing Critical Thinking” Teaching Sociology . 8.3 (April 1981): 325-63.

Reviews works of philosophers, educators, and sociologists who have examined critical thinking as central to the learning process. Suggests 3 strategies to improve the sociology teacher’s capacity to assess critical thinking: a survey of existing instructors, development of analytic tools to assess existing test items, and teacher-developed evaluation materials.

Bean, John. “Helping Students Read Difficult Texts.” Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996. 133-147.

Instructors often note that poor reading and poor writing are interlinked. Reading difficulties may stem from a variety of causes–ten are listed here–and understanding the causes can help instructors devise strategies to help students read more effectively. A variety of suggestions for discussing more effective strategies are given, along with some guidelines in how to construct assignments that require students to employ better reading strategies.

Berthoff, Ann. “Speculative Instruments: Language in the Core Curriculum.” The Making of Meaning: Metaphors, Models, and Maxims for Writing Teachers . Montclair, NJ: Boynton/Cook, 1981. 113-126.

Claims that teaching writing is teaching critical thinking. 3 points about this relationship: observation is central to all disciplines, and learning to observe is learning to think critically; learning terms of art is learning concepts of a field; all disciplines use rhetorical ideas of invention and disposition (organization). Discusses 4 uses of language in all disciplines: speaking, hearing, reading, and writing. Can use writing to relate other aspects of language use in a course together (e.g. to relate lectures to texts).

Brand, Manny. “Toward a Better Understanding of Undergraduate Music Education Majors: Perry’s Perspective.” Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education 98 (1988): 22-31.

Music teacher educators often become dismayed when their students fail to demonstrate the type of intellectual engagement with the topic that the educators expect. The Perry model of intellectual development, however, helps to explain the different stages that students move through as they become incorporated into the academic community, and examples of these stages are sketched out. Music teacher educators may want to consider that their students’ responses will, in some ways, be restricted by their students’ stage of development. Therefore, music teacher educators may want to plan their courses in such a way as to foster transitions between the stages.

Brouwer, Peter. “Hold on a Minute Here: What Happened to Critical Thinking in the Information Age?” Journal of Educational Technology Systems 25 (1996-97): 189-197.

Although information technology (IT) is often touted as a means of improving the quality of teaching and learning, as well as enabling universities to offer more and better distance learning courses, IT also offers the potential for information overload. Educators need to teach information literacy so that students are better able to negotiate the amount and the quality of the information they receive. This type of literacy will enable students to make the distinction between information and knowledge.

Bruffee, Kenneth. “Constructive Reading.” A Short Course in Writing , 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. 147-187.

In order to write well, students need to learn to read well. By reading constructively, students learn to recognize how meaning is created in a text. This selection offers a series of suggestions for getting students to read constructively, including using a descriptive outline–an outline that makes the distinction between a paragraph’s content and its rhetorical purpose.

Bruffee, Kenneth A. “Writing and Reading as Collaborative or Social Acts.” Sourcebook for Basic Writing Teachers . Ed. Theresa Enos. New York: Random House. 565-574.

Collaborative learning, as evidenced by the social nature of language use, is vital to the writing process. Insofar as writing is a type of “talking” to a reader in a coherent fashion, writing uses language that emerges from a community’s experiences as a means to communicate to that particular community. Entrance to the community is partially dependent upon being able to demonstrate competence within the specific discourse, which in turn implies that the writer has internalized the language conventions of that community in order to think about the topic–a type of thinking that involves what Vygotsky would call internalized social speech. That the writer often works alone fails to detract from the social nature of the act because the writer still internalizes the collaborative exchange within her imagination as part of the writing process.

Carpenter, C. Blaine, and James C. Doig. “Assessing Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum.” Assessing Students’ Learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning no. 34. Ed. J.H. McMillan. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988.

Defines critical thinking. Discusses several standardized tests to assess critical thinking. Then outlines efforts to define, assess, and teach/strengthen critical thinking at several colleges and universities.

Carr, Kathryn S. “How Can We Teach Critical Thinking?” Childhood Education 65 (1988): 69-73.

Although most people recognize the need for critical thinking skills, the teaching of those skills is often divorced from content. As a result, critical thinking programs are often unsuccessful. A better program would integrate the application of critical thinking skills into the learning of content. Carr offers a review of various types of thinking skills activities–based upon Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain–applied to content areas.

Ellis, Edwin S. “Integrating Writing Strategy Instruction with Content-Area Instruction: Part II–Writing Processes.” Intervention in School and Clinic 29.4 (1994): 219-228.

Integrated Strategies Instruction Model (ISI) integrates learning strategy instruction with content-area instruction. One part of this model uses writing as a means to get students to think about and apply their content area knowledge. Special attention is given to understanding the writing problems of ineffective writers at the secondary level, especially students with mild learning handicaps. Students are introduced to an executive strategy which uses recursive thinking in order to solve problems, and then taught how to integrate the strategy into a written format. Studies indicate that this method of instruction is successful at improving student performance.

Gleichsner, Jean A. “Using Journal Articles to Integrate Critical Thinking with Computer and Writing Skills” NACTA Journal 38.4 (December 1994): 34-35.

Gleichsner presents an assignment of writing a critical review of a refereed journal article as a way to develop critical thinking in the classroom. She describes in detail the procedure the students follow in doing the assignment and then considers the assignment’s importance for undergraduates, especially in the sciences.

King, Patricia M., Phillip K. Wood, and Robert A. Mines. “Problem Structure, Tests of Critical Thinking and Disciplinary Differences: A Study of Critical Thinking Among College and Graduate Students.” Manuscript. Marked “Submitted for Publication. Do not quote without permission.” Version published in RHE 13.2 (Winter 1990): 167-186.

The authors use multiple measures of critical thinking to find out whether critical thinking ability varies by grad/undergrad, gender, discipline, and “academic ability.” Results: graduate students scored higher than undergrads, some differences that could be accounted for by academic ability and discipline. Results for the different tests differed.

Kiniry, Malcolm and Ellen Strenski. “Sequencing Expository Writing: A Recursive Approach.” College Composition and Communication 36.2 (May 1985): 191-202.

Kiniry and Strenski draw on their experience in UCLA’s writing program to describe a new approach to sequencing assignments in composition courses. They describe 8 typical tasks that undergraduate writers do in all their courses, in a developmental sequence requiring more complex skills: listing, definition, seriation, classification, summary, comparison/contrast, analysis, and academic argument. Each successive skill requires repeating and reinforcing the earlier skills. In addition, they provide sample assignments which would require varying levels of each skill.

Kitchener, Karen S., and Patricia M. King. “The Reflective Judgment Model: Transforming Assumptions about Knowing.” Fostering Critical Reflection in Adulthood: A Guide to Transformative and Emancipatory Learning . Ed. Jack Mezirow. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990. 159- 176.

Describes a model of the development of the ability to make reflective judgments (basically epistemology): the 7 stages people go through in their ability to make such judgments, and what influences this development. Discusses research indicating that this is a legitimate stage theory and research on education in the different stages.

Kitchener, Karen Strohm. “Educational Goals and Reflective Thinking.” The Educational Forum (Fall 1983): 75-92.

After summarizing history of work on reflective thinking, discusses research on, and models of, reflective thinking and its development. Describes a 7-stage model of the development of reflective thinking ability. Discusses educational implications: reflective judgment isn’t taught explicitly, or if it is epistemology is being ignored. Education might be able to help students progress through developmental stages.

Kitchener, Karen Strohm, and Patricia M. King. “The Reflective Judgment Model: Ten Years of Research.” Beyond Formal Operations III: Models and Methods in the Study of Adolescent and Adult Thought . Eds. M.L. Commons, C. Armon, L. Kohnberg, F.A. Richards, T.A. Grotzer and J. Sinnott. NY: Praeger. 2-29.

Describes a 7-stage model of the development of reflective judgment. Relates reflective judgment to Piaget’s formal operations. Describes how it is determined what stage a person is in, and summarizes research on the model, specifically research relating age and educational level to stage.

Kloss, Robert J. “A Nudge is Best: Helping Students through the Perry Scheme of Intellectual Development.” Journal of College Teaching 42.4 (1994): 151-158.

The Perry scheme of intellectual development is one of the few schemes with practical classroom applications. Drawing upon his ten-year experience of incorporating the scheme in his pedagogy, Kloss describes the different stages and offers concrete suggestions on how to challenge students to move from their initial dualist stage to commitment in relativism.

Law, Joe. “Critical Thinking and Computer-aided Instruction in Sociology 200.” Writing Across the Curriculum . 8 (March, 1998): 1, 3.

Instructors of large classes often have difficulty in knowing whether the students have read and understood the text. One instructor requires her students to take weekly computerized tests over the reading. Outside of the tests, the instructor also requires a research project in which students must keep field notes of their observations of a sociological concept in process.

Law, Joe. “Uncritical `Critical Thinking’: Reexamining Current Paradigms.” no citation. Possibly part of a workshop.

The problem with current instruction in composition in critical thinking is that it separates factual content from thinking, and tends to treat critical thinking as if it were a mechanistic skill. Current approaches may deal with formal/informal logic issues, but shows examples of logic fallacies, rather than the thought processes which led to them. Overviews the major approaches to teaching critical thinking and gives suggestions for overcoming their limitations.

McPeck, John E. “The Meaning of Critical Thinking.” Critical Thinking and Education . New York: St. Martin Press, n.d. 1- 23.

Defines critical thinking as thinking with skepticism about a subject or field. Requires that the thinker have the skills associated with practitioners in that field. Critical thinking can include certain aspects of problem solving and various skills. Argues that critical thinking can be taught using drills and practice, but not with just any drills–only drills that encourage the use of critical thinking. Students must be motivated to use their critical thinking skills.

Moll, Michael B., and Robert D. Allen. “Developing Critical Thinking Skills in Biology.” Journal of College Science Teaching (November 1982): 95- 98.

Describes efforts of biology faculty at West Virginia University to teaching critical thinking skills to introductory biology students. Uses video and discussion during class to enable students to apply concepts as they learn them; derive concepts from observations and data; and practice scientific processes. Presents assessment of the program, including data on improvement in students’ critical thinking skills pretest/posttest.

Nelson, Craig E. “Critical Thinking and Collaborative Learning.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning 59 (Fall 1994): 45-58.

Nelson introduces key aspects of the pedagogy of critical thinking and their relationships with collaborative learning. He suggests that it is important to learn how to explain why incorrect responses occur, in addition to providing the disciplinary expectations of a subject. Students need to move beyond a dualistic approach (yes/no answers) or a multiplistic approach (all answers are equally valid) to one of contextual relativism, where they learn the criteria for judging alternatives in a specific discipline. Nelson includes some examples of in-class exercises to accomplish this level of critical thinking.

Nelson, Craig E. “Skewered on the Unicorn’s Horn: The Illusion of Tragic Tradeoff Between Content and Critical Thinking in the Teaching of Science.” Materials for IU Teaching Resources Center workshop, February 4, 1991.

Presentation by Craig Nelson on the Perry scale, critical thinking in science and how to foster it, and how to use small group discussion fruitfully.

Nelson, Craig E. Fostering Critical Thinking and Mature Valuing Across the Curriculum: Comments & Conversation” Work in progress.

This document is an outline of a workshop presented at Indiana University Bloomington. It covers four modes of thinking ranging from fact recognition to contextual reasoning, with different transitional stages listed. Nelson includes some brief references.

Olson, Carol Booth. “The Thinking/Writing Connection.” Developing Minds: A Resource Book for Teaching Thinking . Ed. Arthur L. Costa . Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1985. 102- 107.

Connects writing and thinking processes. Presents a lesson plan to be used at grade-school level that supposedly encourages students to use all levels of thinking (knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation) and all parts of the writing process (prewriting, precomposing, writing, sharing, revising, editing, evaluation).

Paul, Richard. “Teaching Critical Thinking in the ‘Strong’ Sense: A Focus on Self-Deception, World Views, and a Dialectical Mode of Analysis.” No citation. 2-7.

Discusses how not to teach critical thinking (as a set of technical skills without larger contextual issues), and how to teach critical thinking. Argues that critical thinking needs to be taught in a dialectical or dialogic way–as arguments in relation to counterarguments. Lists means of evaluating a course on critical thinking taught in this way, and some “basic theoretic underpinnings” for such a course. Argues that multi-categorical ethical issues are ideal for teaching critical thinking.

Perry, William G., Jr. “Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning” (Ed.), The Modern American College: Responding to the New Realities of Diverse Students and a Changing Society . Ed. Arthur W. Chickering. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1981. 76-116.

A basic overview of the Perry scheme of intellectual development of college students. Also discusses some research done on the scheme, and some efforts at changing teaching.

Smith, Raymond. “Sequenced Microthemes: A Great Deal of Thinking for Your Students, and Relatively Little Grading for You.” Teaching Resources Center Newsletter .

This article responds to a Campuswide Writing Program survey of nearly 300 faculty members about the degree of writing used in their courses. While the motivations for assigning writing varies widely, nearly all of the respondents demand writing assignments from their students, although instructors cite that the time involved in grading is a major drawback. The use of sequenced micro-themes, however, allows instructors to foster critical thinking skills or other abilities in their students without adding an inordinate amount of time in grading. Smith includes two different sequences of assignments–one from his Shakespeare course and the other from a journalism course–designed to enable students to grasp important concepts and become prepared for later, more difficult work.

Slattery, Patrick. “Encouraging Critical Thinking: A Strategy of Commenting on College Papers.” College Composition and Communication 41 (October 1990): 332-335.

Suggests types of comments that can be made on student papers to encourage critical thinking: a support response and a challenge response.

Tallman, Julie. “Connecting Writing and Research through the I-Search Paper: A Teaching Partnership between the Library Program and Classroom.” Emergency Librarian 23.1 (September 1995): 20-23.

This article describes the collaboration between a high school English teacher and a librarian in doing a process-oriented research project called the I-Search paper. This process allows students to define their own research topics and reflect on the strategies used to gather and organize information at each step of the process. I-Search emphasizes interpretation over regurgitation of findings. The article also includes some sample prewriting exercises and journal prompts to use with students.

Thoma, George A. “The Perry Framework and Tactics for Teaching Critical Thinking in Economics.” Journal of Economic Education 42 (1993): 128-136.

Offers strategies for nudging student development within the Perry scheme of intellectual development. The underlying principles for these strategies rest in Craig Nelson’s work on transitioning between different modes of thinking.

Thompson, Jan C. “Beyond Fixing Today’s Paper: Promoting Metacognition and Writing Development in the Tutorial through Self-Questioning.” The Writing Lab Newsletter 23.6 (1999): 1-6.

Although open-ended questions are generally preferred by composition specialists, these types of questions are particularly important within the context of tutoring students with learning disabilities. These students tend not to strategize without outside, explicit direction, but open-ended questions help these students develop metacognitive skills through active learning. Socratic discussions, outlines, and the five Ws are discussed, along with rhetorical modes. Self-cuing is another important part of this type of tutorial, especially LD students.

Turner, Michele. “Writing Across the Curriculum and Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing 414.” Writing Across the Curriculum . 9 (May 1998): 1-2.

Describes three assignments used to develop critical thinking skills in a course entitled, “Applying Neuroscience Nursing Principles to Practice.” “Development of a Concept” requires students to use journals to develop a historical review of the evolution of a neuroscience nursing concept. Student-developed questions relating to the daily topic and based upon the preparatory reading, and a textbook exercise meant to stimulate students to become more critical readers as they search for outdated or inaccurate information in the assigned textbook.

“Two Ways of Approaching Cognitive and Ethical Development.” Campus Writing Program. Indiana University, Bloomington, IN.

One-page summary of both Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives and Perry’s scheme. Part of a series of handouts designed for workshops.

Go to Indiana University Campus Writing Program Library Directory at Indiana University .

Writing a Critical Reflective Journal

First Online: 04 May 2022

Cite this chapter

Susan J. Deeley 2

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This chapter examines the nature of journal writing in the context of service-learning. Problematic issues and dilemmas are scrutinised in addition to important ethical concerns and how they might be addressed. Approaches to journal writing are scrutinised, with the ultimate view that feminist critical autoethnography is a most appropriate genre in this context. With a focus on action, it aligns with service-learning as feminist critical pedagogy and encapsulates the processes and production of a critically reflective service-learning journal. The final part of this chapter provides a Prelude to the feminist critical autoethnographical Journal that nestles between Chaps. 3 and 4 . The aim of this section of the chapter is to prepare the reader for the next encounter in this literary matryoshka.

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Ellis, C., Adams, T.E., and Bochner, A.P. (2011) ‘Autoethnography: An Overview’, Historical Social Research 36(4): 273-290.

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Deeley, S.J. (2022). Writing a Critical Reflective Journal. In: Assessment and Service-Learning in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94440-7_3

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Critical Thinking Skills.

Ai generator.

Critical thinking is the ability to analyze information objectively and make a reasoned judgment. It involves evaluating sources, such as data, facts, observable phenomena, and research findings. Developing critical thinking skills is essential for academic success and everyday decision-making. Here are strategies and examples to help enhance critical thinking skills.

1. Ask Questions

Asking questions is fundamental to critical thinking. Encourage curiosity and in-depth understanding by asking questions like:

What evidence supports this claim?
Are there alternative perspectives?
What are the implications of this decision?

2. Analyze Assumptions

Identifying and analyzing assumptions helps in understanding underlying biases and beliefs.

Example : When reading a news article, identify the assumptions the author makes and consider how they influence the argument.

3. Evaluate Evidence

Evaluating evidence involves assessing the reliability and validity of information sources.

Example : When researching a topic, compare information from multiple sources and evaluate their credibility.

4. Develop Hypotheses

Formulating and testing hypotheses can strengthen analytical skills.

Example : In a science experiment, develop a hypothesis, conduct experiments to test it, and analyze the results.

5. Reflect on Your Thinking Process

Reflection helps in recognizing and improving your thought process.

Example : After making a decision, reflect on the steps you took, what you learned, and how you could improve in the future.

6. Engage in Discussions

Participating in discussions encourages the exchange of ideas and perspectives.

Example : Join a debate club or discussion group to practice presenting and defending your viewpoints.

7. Practice Problem-Solving

Solving problems systematically can enhance critical thinking.

Example : Use problem-solving frameworks, like SWOT analysis, to evaluate a business case study.

8. Use Critical Thinking Exercises

Incorporate exercises and activities designed to boost critical thinking skills.

Example : Engage in brainteasers, puzzles, and logic games that challenge your reasoning abilities.

Examples of Critical Thinking in Action

Case Study: Socratic Method : Used in law schools, the Socratic method involves asking a series of questions to help students think deeply about the subject matter.
Example: Reflective Journals : Students keep journals where they reflect on their learning experiences, analyze their thinking processes, and develop insights.

Developing critical thinking skills is crucial for academic success and informed decision-making. By asking questions, analyzing assumptions, evaluating evidence, developing hypotheses, reflecting on thinking processes, engaging in discussions, practicing problem-solving, and using critical thinking exercises, individuals can enhance their ability to think critically.

Text prompt

Instructive
Professional

10 Examples of Public speaking

20 Examples of Gas lighting

Donald Schon’s Reflective Thinking Model Essay (Critical Writing)

Preparation, description, interpretation and evaluation.

Preparing to apply Donald Schon’s Reflective Thinking Model was intriguing for me. As stated in [1], I expected that the model would help me reveal new aspects and possibilities of reflection to track when something happens wrong. The model can be applied in philosophy development and change promotion as in [2], so my expectations were high. I thought it could be a challenge to apply reflection and then analyze it, and I would have to remind myself of this necessity. It is worth noting that programs using the model are often seen as new and evolving [3]. As a result, the difficulty was ensuring the correct application of the ideas. Using this approach, one needs to know about the reflection-on-action, reflection-in-action, and knowing-in-action concepts and the process features [4]. Therefore, my preparation for using the model went through its detailed study.

I applied Schon’s models to journaling after studying the approach. Journalism itself is an effective and widely used practice of reflection [5]. Using the concept of knowing-in-action, I considered the experience I wanted to describe in the journal. Then I additionally used the questions from the model to include more details. The process took longer than before, but I considered more aspects of my experience. Journaling went as I expected, and challenges did not hinder me.

As I considered the new recordings, I noticed that they became more detailed and contributed to the appearance of further questions and the desire for knowledge. As noted in [6], reflection contributed to more meaningful experiences and learning. Moreover, following the goal of the model, thoughts on certain activities contribute to improving the activities themselves [7]. As I expected from this experience, applying Schon’s model helped enhance my critical thinking. I am sure this implication is necessary for my development as a student, and I see significant progress in my ability to reflect. Therefore, I think the experience of applying the model went well, and I assume that other students shared my opinion. The experience was exciting and valuable due to the preparation and study of the model. I learned to understand and think deeply about my actions and the topics being studied. Value of such experience in subsequent application of the approach for continuous analysis and improvement of my activities.

“ Reflective writing: Schön ,” University of Hull, 2022, Web.

S. Oliverio, “‘Action philosophy’: philosophical inquiry, professional development and organizational Change.” puntOorg International Journal , vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-13, 2022.

R. A. Mangione, “The gift of academic service learning,” Journal of Vincentian Social Action, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 4-5, 2018.

“ Schön’s Model of reflection ,” Study Prism, Web.

E.A. Burns, “Reflective school library practitioners: use of journaling to strengthen practice,” School Library Research , vol. 23, pp. 1-16, 2020.

S. F. R. Yaegashi, A. Shigunov Neto, N. F. Ruiz and J. L. Gasparin, “Leontiev’s theory of activity and Donald Schön’s reflective professor: reflections on teacher education,” Acta Scientiarum. Education , vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 1-11.

F. Martin and D. U. Bolliger. “Engagement matters: student perceptions on the importance of engagement strategies in the online learning environment. Online Learning , vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 205-222, 2018.

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IvyPanda. (2024, May 19). Donald Schon's Reflective Thinking Model. https://ivypanda.com/essays/donald-schons-reflective-thinking-model/

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IvyPanda . 2024. "Donald Schon's Reflective Thinking Model." May 19, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/donald-schons-reflective-thinking-model/.

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4. Algorithm for Isothermal Reactor Design *

Algorithm for Isothermal Reactor Design
Applications/Examples of CRE Algorithm
Reversible Reactions
ODE (Polymath) Solutions to CRE Problems
General Guidelines for California Problems
Engineering Analysis
Measures Other Than Conversion

Part 1: Mole Balances in Terms of Conversion

French Menu Analogy

Here is a short movie about the use of the CSTR in the Senior Chemical Engineering Lab at the University of Michigan. You will need Quicktime to view these movies.

This Powerpoint Presentation details the reaction being carried out in the movie.

Example: The elementary liquid phase reaction

is carried out isothermally in a CSTR. Pure A enters at a volumetric flow rate of 25 dm 3 /s and at a concentration of 0.2 mol/dm 3 .

What CSTR volume is necessary to achieve a 90% conversion when k = 10 dm 3 /(mol*s)?

Here are some links to example problems. You could also use these problems as self tests.

The following movies were made by the students of Professor Alan Lane's chemical reaction engineering class at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa

Solve for X = 0.9

Applying the algorithm to the above reaction occurring in a Batch, CSTR, and PFR.

To determine the conversion or reactor volume for reversible reactions, one must first calculate the maximum conversion that can be achieved at the isothermal reaction temperature, which is the equilibrium conversion. (See Example 3-8 in the text for additional coverage of equilibrium conversion in isothermal reactor design.)

Equilibrium Conversion, X e

From Appendix C:

Example: Determine X e for a PFR with no pressure drop, P = P 0

Given that the system is gas phase and isothermal, determine the reactor volume when X = 0.8 X e .

First calculate X e :

X = 0.8X e = 0.711

Equations Plot of X vs. V Results in Tabular Form

A volume of 94 dm 3 (rounding up from slightly more than 93 dm 3 ) appears to be our answer.

Every state has an examination engineers must pass to become a registered professional engineer. In the past there have typically been six problems in a three hour segment of the California Professional Engineers Exam. Consequently one should be able to work each problem in 30 minutes or less. Many of these problems involve an intermediate calculation to determine the final answer.

Some Hints:

Note: Pressure drop does NOT affect liquid phase reactions

Sample Question:

Analyze the following second order gas phase reaction that occurs isothermally in a PBR:

Mole Balance

Must use the differential form of the mole balance to separate variables Rate Law

Need to find (P/P 0 ) as a function of W (or V if you have a PFR). Pressure Drop in Packed Bed Reactors

Could now solve for X given W, or for W given X.

For gas phase reactions, as the pressure drop increases, the concentration decreases, resulting in a decreased rate of reaction, hence a lower conversion when compared to a reactor without a pressure drop.

Here are some links to example problems dealing with packed bed reactors. You could also use these problems as self tests.

Mole Balance

Stoichiometry

Gas with T = T 0

POLYMATH will combine everything - You do not need the combine step. Thank you POLYMATH

Optimum Paritcle Diameter

ρ 0 = P 0 (MW)/RT 0

Increasing the particle diameter descreases the pressure drop and increases the rate and conversion.

However, there is a competing effect. The specific reaction rate decreases as the particle size increases, therefore so deos the conversion.

The larger the particle, the more time it takes the reactant to get in and out of the catalyst particle. For a given catalyst weight, there is a greater external surgace area for smaller particles than larger particles. Therefore, there are more entry ways into the catalyst particle.

In CD-ROM chapter 12, we will learn that effectiveness factor decreases as the particle size increases

We want to learn how the various parameters (particle diameter, porosity, etc.) affect the pressure drop and hence conversion. We need to know how to respond to "What if" questions, such as:

"If we double the particle size, decrease the porosity by a factor of 3, and double the pipe size, what will happen to D P and X?" (See Critical Thinking in Preface page xx. e.g., Questions the probe consenquences)

To answer these questions we need to see how a varies with these parameters.

Turbulent Flow

Compare Case 1 and Case 2:

For example, Case 1 might be our current situation and Case 2 might be the parameters we want to change to.

Laminar Flow

Here are more links to example problems dealing with packed bed reactors. Again, you could also use these problems as self tests.

Part 2: Measures Other Than Conversion

Uses:

A. Membrane reactors B. Multiple reaction

Liquids: Use concentrations, I.E. C A

There are two equations, two unknowns, C A and C B

Gases: Use Molar Flow Rates, I.E. F I

Use Polymath to plot F A and F B down the length of the reactor.

Microreactors

For isothermal microreactors, we use the same equations as a PFR as long as the flow is not laminar. If the flow is laminar, we must use the techniques discussed in chapter 13. See example 4.8 of the text.

Membrane reactors can be used to achieve conversions greater than the original equilibrium value. These higher conversions are the result of Le Chatelier's Principle; you can remove one of the reaction products and drive the reaction to the right. To accomplish this, a membrane that is permeable to that reaction product, but is impermeable to all other species, is placed around the reacting mixture.

Example : The following reaction is to be carried out isothermally in a membrane reactor with no pressure drop. The membrane is permeable to Product C, but it is impermeable to all other species.

For membrane reactors, we cannot use conversion. We have to work in terms of the molar flow rates F A , F B , F C .

Polymath Program

Here are links to example problems dealing with membrane reactors. You could also use these problems as self tests.

The reactant that starts in the reactor is always the limiting reactant.

Three Forms of the Mole Balance Applied to Semibatch Reactors:

Use the algorithm to solve the remainder of the problem.

Example: Elementary Irreversible Reaction

Consider the following irreversible elementary reaction:

-r A = kC A C B

The combined mole balance, rate law, and stoichiometry may be written in terms of number of moles, conversion, and/or concentration:

Polymath Equations:

Polymath Screenshots:

Equilibrium Conversion in Semibatch Reactors with Reversible Reactions

Consider the following reversible reaction:

Everything is the same as for the irreversible case, except for the rate law:

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In recent decades, approaches to critical thinking have generally taken a practical turn, pivoting away from more abstract accounts - such as emphasizing the logical relations that hold between statements (Ennis, 1964) - and moving toward an emphasis on belief and action.According to the definition that Robert Ennis (2018) has been advocating for the last few decades, critical thinking is ...
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Our ability to think critically and our disposition to do so can have major implications for our everyday lives. Research across the globe has shown the impact of critical thinking on decisions about our health, politics, relationships, finances, consumer purchases, education, work, and more. This chapter will review some of that research. Given the importance of critical thinking to our ...
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Assigning critical thinking journal writing assignments is an effective way to engagestudents in critical thinking. This critical thinking journal assignment can be adapted to a first-year writing class, applied in core courses/seminars, and assigned in major program courses. The following example is from a core literature seminar.
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The article also includes some sample prewriting exercises and journal prompts to use with students. Thoma, George A. "The Perry Framework and Tactics for Teaching Critical Thinking in Economics." Journal of Economic Education 42 (1993): 128-136.
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It makes you a well-rounded individual, one who has looked at all of their options and possible solutions before making a choice. According to the University of the People in California, having critical thinking skills is important because they are [ 1 ]: Universal. Crucial for the economy. Essential for improving language and presentation skills.
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The author delves into how original measurements of critical thinking avoided assumptions about the accuracy of specific real-world beliefs and details how subsequent critical thinking tests increasingly focused on logical abilities, often favoring outcome (what we believe) over process (how we think). DOI: 10.1037/hop0000145. 6.
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eBook Search Example ; ... WALL STREET JOURNAL . CREATE AN ACCOUNT HERE. Start Here . CREATE AN ACCOUNT HERE << Previous: EBSCOHost Example; Last Updated ... Print Page; Login to LibApps. Subjects: Course Specific, Critical Thinking & Writing, English. Tags: Critical thinking and writing, CTW2, english. 500 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA 95053 ...
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Example: Join a debate club or discussion group to practice presenting and defending your viewpoints. 7. Practice Problem-Solving. Solving problems systematically can enhance critical thinking. Example: Use problem-solving frameworks, like SWOT analysis, to evaluate a business case study. 8. Use Critical Thinking Exercises
Donald Schon's Reflective Thinking Model Essay (Critical Writing)
Donald Schon's Reflective Thinking Model Essay (Critical Writing) ... professional development and organizational Change." puntOorg International Journal, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 1-13, 2022. ... It contains thousands of paper examples on a wide variety of topics, all donated by helpful students. You can use them for inspiration, an insight into ...
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Teaching students about critical thinking. Geetha Venugopal, a high school computer science teacher at the American International School in Chennai, India, likens teaching students about AI tools to teaching students how to use the internet responsibly. ... Once you have provided the explanation, examples, and analogy, ask the teacher if they ...
Chapter 4 Summary Notes
(See Critical Thinking in Preface page xx. e.g., Questions the probe consenquences) To answer these questions we need to see how a varies with these parameters. ... Example: The following reaction is to be carried out isothermally in a membrane reactor with no pressure drop. The membrane is permeable to Product C, but it is impermeable to all ...