Assessing Critical Thinking Skills: A Diagnosis of Elementary Students

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35670/1667-4545.v23.n2.42069

Keywords:

assessment, critical thinking, skills, normative data in primary education, gender differences

Abstract

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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Author Biographies

María Antonia Manassero-Mas, University of the Balearic Islands

María-Antonia Manassero-Mas is a Professor of Social Psychology at the department of Psychology (University of the Balearic Islands), holds two extraordinary awards of Bachelor and Doctorate degrees in Psychology. She has served as Ombudsperson and head of the Open University for the Elderly. Her research focuses on psychosocial processes at work (stress, burnout, emotional work, critical and scientific thinking, etc.), health, gender and violence against women, education and academic performance, and attitudes towards science and technology and their relationships with society, where he has directed and participated on over thirty research projects. 

Ángel Vázquez-Alonso, University of the Balearic Islands

Ángel Vázquez Alonso is currently retired and serves as an honorific researcher of the Institute of Educational Research and Innovation and doctoral tutor at the University of the Balearic (UIB) Islands; previously, he served as associate teacher in Bachelor, Undergraduate degrees, and the Secondary Teacher Training Master of the University of the Balearic Islands, and as Baccalaureate Teacher, Educational Inspector, and Director of the Institute of Evaluation of the Balearic Islands. His research focuses on pedagogy, didactics, school and curriculum organization, mostly related to science and technology education, where he has participated in 26 competitive funded research projects as principal investigator or researcher.

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Published

2023-08-01

How to Cite

Manassero-Mas, M. A., & Vázquez-Alonso, Ángel. (2023). Assessing Critical Thinking Skills: A Diagnosis of Elementary Students. Revista Evaluar, 23(2), 40–56. https://doi.org/10.35670/1667-4545.v23.n2.42069

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 2 (2023)

Section

Investigaciones originales

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