Redefining Critical Thinking: Teaching Students to Think like Scientists

Abstract

From primary to post-secondary school, critical thinking (CT) is an oft cited focus or key competency (e.g., DeAngelo et al., ; California Department of Education, ; Alberta Education, ; Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, ). Unfortunately, the definition of CT has become so broad that it can encompass nearly anything and everything (e.g., Hatcher, ; Johnson and Hamby, ). From discussion of Foucault, critique and the self (Foucault, ) to Lawson's () definition of CT as the ability to evaluate claims using psychological science, the term critical thinking has come to refer