CRITICAL THINKING ASSESSMENTS: AN ANALYSIS

Abstract

Critical thinking skills and dispositions are crucial for an individual and society at large. Research has shown that it has an impact on our ability to make decisions pertaining to education, employment, health, finances, rejecting fake conspiracy theories, pseudoscientific claims to name a few. It is also one of the primary objectives of higher education which is often stated implicitly or explicitly as an intended learning outcome. Critical thinking serves as a reliable prognostic tool of academic performance and has been demonstrated to be a more inclusive construct than cognitive ability or intelligence. This paper will highlight some of the critical thinking assessments available which can be used to measure critical thinking skills and dispositions. In the wake of artificial intelligence (AI) the ability to think critically as well as dispositions to do so is of paramount importance. The need to critically assess information using knowledge, expertise, judgement and creativity can avoid the pitfall known as AI hallucination and at the same time promotes empathy, ethics, informed citizenship among others. Hence these assessments should be used in a discerning manner to measure the educational outcomes required by the university and faculty.