Assessing Critical Thinking Skills: A Diagnosis of Elementary Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35670/1667-4545.v23.n2.42069Keywords:
assessment, critical thinking, skills, normative data in primary education, gender differencesAbstract
Critical thinking (CT) is a central aim of the 21st century education, although its research lacks consensus, has been unequal and lacking in primary evaluation issues and primary education. These weaknesses justify the aim of this study: evaluating primary students’ mastery of CT skills. The quantitative methodology diagnoses six CT skills (prediction, logical reasoning, comparison, classification, decision-making, and problem-solving) through a 48-item test, which 655 sixth-graders completed. The students display an average global mastery of the CT items and skills, and the test’s and skill scores’ standardization are also presented. The comparison of boys and girls shows that girls perform better than boys on most test items. The diagnoses suggest an intermediate mastery of CT skills in students, where girls widely outperform boys, and also propose some educational implications.
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