barriers of critical thinking in education

5 Barriers to Critical Thinking

What holds us back from thinking critically in day-to-day situations.

Posted January 18, 2019 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

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Quite often, discussions of Critical Thinking (CT) revolve around tips for what you or your students should be doing to enhance CT ability. However, it seems that there’s substantially less discussion of what you shouldn’t be doing—that is, barriers to CT.

About a year ago, I posted "5 Tips for Critical Thinking" to this blog, and after thinking about it in terms of what not to do , along with more modern conceptualizations of CT (see Dwyer, 2017), I’ve compiled a list of five major barriers to CT. Of course, these are not the only barriers to CT; rather, they are five that may have the most impact on how one applies CT.

1. Trusting Your Gut

Trust your gut is a piece of advice often thrown around in the context of being in doubt. The concept of using intuitive judgment is actually the last thing you want to be doing if critical thinking is your goal. In the past, intuitive judgment has been described as "the absence of analysis" (Hamm, 1988); and automatic cognitive processing—which generally lacks effort, intention, awareness, or voluntary control—is usually experienced as perceptions or feelings (Kahneman, 2011; Lieberman, 2003).

Given that intuitive judgment operates automatically and cannot be voluntarily "turned off," associated errors and unsupported biases are difficult to prevent, largely because reflective judgment has not been consulted. Even when errors appear obvious in hindsight, they can only be prevented through the careful, self-regulated monitoring and control afforded by reflective judgment. Such errors and flawed reasoning include cognitive biases and logical fallacies .

Going with your gut—experienced as perceptions or feelings—generally leads the thinker to favor perspectives consistent with their own personal biases and experiences or those of their group.

2. Lack of Knowledge

CT skills are key components of what CT is, and in order to conduct it, one must know how to use these skills. Not knowing the skills of CT—analysis, evaluation, and inference (i.e., what they are or how to use them)—is, of course, a major barrier to its application. However, consideration of a lack of knowledge does not end with the knowledge of CT skills.

Let’s say you know what analysis, evaluation, and inference are, as well as how to apply them. The question then becomes: Are you knowledgeable in the topic area you have been asked to apply the CT? If not, intellectual honesty and reflective judgment should be engaged to allow you to consider the nature, limits, and certainty of what knowledge you do have, so that you can evaluate what is required of you to gain the knowledge necessary to make a critically thought-out judgment.

However, the barrier here may not necessarily be a lack of topic knowledge, but perhaps rather believing that you have the requisite knowledge to make a critically thought-out judgment when this is not the case or lacking the willingness to gain additional, relevant topic knowledge.

3. Lack of Willingness

In addition to skills, disposition towards thinking is also key to CT. Disposition towards thinking refers to the extent to which an individual is willing or inclined to perform a given thinking skill, and is essential for understanding how we think and how we can make our thinking better, in both academic settings and everyday circumstances (Norris, 1992; Siegel, 1999; Valenzuela, Nieto, & Saiz, 2011; Dwyer, Hogan & Stewart, 2014).

Dispositions can’t be taught, per se, but they do play a large role in determining whether or not CT will be performed. Simply, it doesn’t matter how skilled one is at analysis, evaluation, and inference—if they’re not willing to think critically, CT is not likely to occur.

4. Misunderstanding of Truth

Truth-seeking is one such disposition towards thinking, which refers to a desire for knowledge; to seek and offer both reasons and objections in an effort to inform and to be well-informed; a willingness to challenge popular beliefs and social norms by asking questions (of oneself and others); to be honest and objective about pursuing the truth, even if the findings do not support one’s self-interest or pre-conceived beliefs or opinions; and to change one’s mind about an idea as a result of the desire for truth (Dwyer, 2017).

Though this is something for which many of us strive or even just assume we do, the truth is that we all succumb to unwarranted assumptions from time to time: that is, beliefs presumed to be true without adequate justification. For example, we might make a judgment based on an unsubstantiated stereotype or a commonsense/belief statement that has no empirical evidence to justify it. When using CT, it’s important to distinguish facts from beliefs and, also, to dig a little deeper by evaluating "facts" with respect to how much empirical support they have to validate them as fact (see " The Dirtiest Word in Critical Thinking: 'Proof' and its Burden ").

Furthermore, sometimes the truth doesn’t suit people, and so, they might choose to ignore it or try and manipulate knowledge or understanding to accommodate their bias . For example, some people may engage in wishful thinking , in which they believe something is true because they wish it to be; some might engage in relativistic thinking , in which, for them, the truth is subjective or just a matter of opinion.

5. Closed-mindedness

In one of my previous posts, I lay out " 5 Tips for Critical Thinking "—one of which is to play Devil’s Advocate , which refers to the "consideration of alternatives." There’s always more than one way to do or think about something—why not engage such consideration?

The willingness to play Devil’s Advocate implies a sensibility consistent with open-mindedness (i.e., an inclination to be cognitively flexible and avoid rigidity in thinking; to tolerate divergent or conflicting views and treat all viewpoints alike, prior to subsequent analysis and evaluation; to detach from one’s own beliefs and consider, seriously, points of view other than one’s own without bias or self-interest; to be open to feedback by accepting positive feedback, and to not reject criticism or constructive feedback without thoughtful consideration; to amend existing knowledge in light of new ideas and experiences; and to explore such new, alternative, or "unusual" ideas).

At the opposite end of the spectrum, closed-mindedness is a significant barrier to CT. By this stage, you have probably identified the inherent nature of bias in our thinking. The first step of CT is always going to be to evaluate this bias. However, one’s bias may be so strong that it leads them to become closed-minded and renders them unwilling to consider any other perspectives.

Another way in which someone might be closed-minded is through having properly researched and critically thought about a topic and then deciding that this perspective will never change, as if their knowledge will never need to adapt. However, critical thinkers know that knowledge can change and adapt. An example I’ve used in the past is quite relevant here—growing up, I was taught that there were nine planets in our solar system; however, based on further research, our knowledge of planets has been amended to now only consider eight of those as planets.

Being open-minded is a valuable disposition, but so is skepticism (i.e., the inclination to challenge ideas; to withhold judgment before engaging all the evidence or when the evidence and reasons are insufficient; to take a position and be able to change position when the evidence and reasons are sufficient; and to look at findings from various perspectives).

However, one can be both open-minded and skeptical. It is closed-mindedness that is the barrier to CT, so please note that closed-mindedness and skepticism are distinct dispositions.

Dwyer, C.P. (2017). Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Dwyer, C.P., Hogan, M.J. & Stewart, I. (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for the 21st century. Thinking Skills & Creativity, 12, 43-52.

Hamm, R. M. (1988). Clinical intuition and clinical analysis: expertise and the cognitive continuum. In J. Dowie & A. Elstein (Eds.), Professional judgment: A reader in clinical decision making, 78–105. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking fast and slow. Penguin: Great Britain.

Lieberman, M. D. (2003). Reflexive and reflective judgment processes: A social cognitive neuroscience approach. Social Judgments: Implicit and Explicit Processes, 5, 44–67.

Norris, S. P. (Ed.). (1992). The generalizability of critical thinking: Multiple perspectives on an educational ideal. New York: Teachers College Press.

Siegel, H. (1999). What (good) are thinking dispositions? Educational Theory, 49, 2, 207–221.

Valenzuela, J., Nieto, A. M., & Saiz, C. (2011). Critical thinking motivational scale: A contribution to the study of relationship between critical thinking and motivation. Journal of Research in Educational Psychology, 9, 2, 823–848.

Christopher Dwyer, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone, Ireland.

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Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is a widely accepted educational goal. Its definition is contested, but the competing definitions can be understood as differing conceptions of the same basic concept: careful thinking directed to a goal. Conceptions differ with respect to the scope of such thinking, the type of goal, the criteria and norms for thinking carefully, and the thinking components on which they focus. Its adoption as an educational goal has been recommended on the basis of respect for students’ autonomy and preparing students for success in life and for democratic citizenship. “Critical thinkers” have the dispositions and abilities that lead them to think critically when appropriate. The abilities can be identified directly; the dispositions indirectly, by considering what factors contribute to or impede exercise of the abilities. Standardized tests have been developed to assess the degree to which a person possesses such dispositions and abilities. Educational intervention has been shown experimentally to improve them, particularly when it includes dialogue, anchored instruction, and mentoring. Controversies have arisen over the generalizability of critical thinking across domains, over alleged bias in critical thinking theories and instruction, and over the relationship of critical thinking to other types of thinking.

2.1 Dewey’s Three Main Examples

2.2 dewey’s other examples, 2.3 further examples, 2.4 non-examples, 3. the definition of critical thinking, 4. its value, 5. the process of thinking critically, 6. components of the process, 7. contributory dispositions and abilities, 8.1 initiating dispositions, 8.2 internal dispositions, 9. critical thinking abilities, 10. required knowledge, 11. educational methods, 12.1 the generalizability of critical thinking, 12.2 bias in critical thinking theory and pedagogy, 12.3 relationship of critical thinking to other types of thinking, other internet resources, related entries.

Use of the term ‘critical thinking’ to describe an educational goal goes back to the American philosopher John Dewey (1910), who more commonly called it ‘reflective thinking’. He defined it as

active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends. (Dewey 1910: 6; 1933: 9)

and identified a habit of such consideration with a scientific attitude of mind. His lengthy quotations of Francis Bacon, John Locke, and John Stuart Mill indicate that he was not the first person to propose development of a scientific attitude of mind as an educational goal.

In the 1930s, many of the schools that participated in the Eight-Year Study of the Progressive Education Association (Aikin 1942) adopted critical thinking as an educational goal, for whose achievement the study’s Evaluation Staff developed tests (Smith, Tyler, & Evaluation Staff 1942). Glaser (1941) showed experimentally that it was possible to improve the critical thinking of high school students. Bloom’s influential taxonomy of cognitive educational objectives (Bloom et al. 1956) incorporated critical thinking abilities. Ennis (1962) proposed 12 aspects of critical thinking as a basis for research on the teaching and evaluation of critical thinking ability.

Since 1980, an annual international conference in California on critical thinking and educational reform has attracted tens of thousands of educators from all levels of education and from many parts of the world. Also since 1980, the state university system in California has required all undergraduate students to take a critical thinking course. Since 1983, the Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking has sponsored sessions in conjunction with the divisional meetings of the American Philosophical Association (APA). In 1987, the APA’s Committee on Pre-College Philosophy commissioned a consensus statement on critical thinking for purposes of educational assessment and instruction (Facione 1990a). Researchers have developed standardized tests of critical thinking abilities and dispositions; for details, see the Supplement on Assessment . Educational jurisdictions around the world now include critical thinking in guidelines for curriculum and assessment.

For details on this history, see the Supplement on History .

2. Examples and Non-Examples

Before considering the definition of critical thinking, it will be helpful to have in mind some examples of critical thinking, as well as some examples of kinds of thinking that would apparently not count as critical thinking.

Dewey (1910: 68–71; 1933: 91–94) takes as paradigms of reflective thinking three class papers of students in which they describe their thinking. The examples range from the everyday to the scientific.

Transit : “The other day, when I was down town on 16th Street, a clock caught my eye. I saw that the hands pointed to 12:20. This suggested that I had an engagement at 124th Street, at one o’clock. I reasoned that as it had taken me an hour to come down on a surface car, I should probably be twenty minutes late if I returned the same way. I might save twenty minutes by a subway express. But was there a station near? If not, I might lose more than twenty minutes in looking for one. Then I thought of the elevated, and I saw there was such a line within two blocks. But where was the station? If it were several blocks above or below the street I was on, I should lose time instead of gaining it. My mind went back to the subway express as quicker than the elevated; furthermore, I remembered that it went nearer than the elevated to the part of 124th Street I wished to reach, so that time would be saved at the end of the journey. I concluded in favor of the subway, and reached my destination by one o’clock.” (Dewey 1910: 68–69; 1933: 91–92)

Ferryboat : “Projecting nearly horizontally from the upper deck of the ferryboat on which I daily cross the river is a long white pole, having a gilded ball at its tip. It suggested a flagpole when I first saw it; its color, shape, and gilded ball agreed with this idea, and these reasons seemed to justify me in this belief. But soon difficulties presented themselves. The pole was nearly horizontal, an unusual position for a flagpole; in the next place, there was no pulley, ring, or cord by which to attach a flag; finally, there were elsewhere on the boat two vertical staffs from which flags were occasionally flown. It seemed probable that the pole was not there for flag-flying.

“I then tried to imagine all possible purposes of the pole, and to consider for which of these it was best suited: (a) Possibly it was an ornament. But as all the ferryboats and even the tugboats carried poles, this hypothesis was rejected. (b) Possibly it was the terminal of a wireless telegraph. But the same considerations made this improbable. Besides, the more natural place for such a terminal would be the highest part of the boat, on top of the pilot house. (c) Its purpose might be to point out the direction in which the boat is moving.

“In support of this conclusion, I discovered that the pole was lower than the pilot house, so that the steersman could easily see it. Moreover, the tip was enough higher than the base, so that, from the pilot’s position, it must appear to project far out in front of the boat. Moreover, the pilot being near the front of the boat, he would need some such guide as to its direction. Tugboats would also need poles for such a purpose. This hypothesis was so much more probable than the others that I accepted it. I formed the conclusion that the pole was set up for the purpose of showing the pilot the direction in which the boat pointed, to enable him to steer correctly.” (Dewey 1910: 69–70; 1933: 92–93)

Bubbles : “In washing tumblers in hot soapsuds and placing them mouth downward on a plate, bubbles appeared on the outside of the mouth of the tumblers and then went inside. Why? The presence of bubbles suggests air, which I note must come from inside the tumbler. I see that the soapy water on the plate prevents escape of the air save as it may be caught in bubbles. But why should air leave the tumbler? There was no substance entering to force it out. It must have expanded. It expands by increase of heat, or by decrease of pressure, or both. Could the air have become heated after the tumbler was taken from the hot suds? Clearly not the air that was already entangled in the water. If heated air was the cause, cold air must have entered in transferring the tumblers from the suds to the plate. I test to see if this supposition is true by taking several more tumblers out. Some I shake so as to make sure of entrapping cold air in them. Some I take out holding mouth downward in order to prevent cold air from entering. Bubbles appear on the outside of every one of the former and on none of the latter. I must be right in my inference. Air from the outside must have been expanded by the heat of the tumbler, which explains the appearance of the bubbles on the outside. But why do they then go inside? Cold contracts. The tumbler cooled and also the air inside it. Tension was removed, and hence bubbles appeared inside. To be sure of this, I test by placing a cup of ice on the tumbler while the bubbles are still forming outside. They soon reverse” (Dewey 1910: 70–71; 1933: 93–94).

Dewey (1910, 1933) sprinkles his book with other examples of critical thinking. We will refer to the following.

Weather : A man on a walk notices that it has suddenly become cool, thinks that it is probably going to rain, looks up and sees a dark cloud obscuring the sun, and quickens his steps (1910: 6–10; 1933: 9–13).

Disorder : A man finds his rooms on his return to them in disorder with his belongings thrown about, thinks at first of burglary as an explanation, then thinks of mischievous children as being an alternative explanation, then looks to see whether valuables are missing, and discovers that they are (1910: 82–83; 1933: 166–168).

Typhoid : A physician diagnosing a patient whose conspicuous symptoms suggest typhoid avoids drawing a conclusion until more data are gathered by questioning the patient and by making tests (1910: 85–86; 1933: 170).

Blur : A moving blur catches our eye in the distance, we ask ourselves whether it is a cloud of whirling dust or a tree moving its branches or a man signaling to us, we think of other traits that should be found on each of those possibilities, and we look and see if those traits are found (1910: 102, 108; 1933: 121, 133).

Suction pump : In thinking about the suction pump, the scientist first notes that it will draw water only to a maximum height of 33 feet at sea level and to a lesser maximum height at higher elevations, selects for attention the differing atmospheric pressure at these elevations, sets up experiments in which the air is removed from a vessel containing water (when suction no longer works) and in which the weight of air at various levels is calculated, compares the results of reasoning about the height to which a given weight of air will allow a suction pump to raise water with the observed maximum height at different elevations, and finally assimilates the suction pump to such apparently different phenomena as the siphon and the rising of a balloon (1910: 150–153; 1933: 195–198).

Diamond : A passenger in a car driving in a diamond lane reserved for vehicles with at least one passenger notices that the diamond marks on the pavement are far apart in some places and close together in others. Why? The driver suggests that the reason may be that the diamond marks are not needed where there is a solid double line separating the diamond lane from the adjoining lane, but are needed when there is a dotted single line permitting crossing into the diamond lane. Further observation confirms that the diamonds are close together when a dotted line separates the diamond lane from its neighbour, but otherwise far apart.

Rash : A woman suddenly develops a very itchy red rash on her throat and upper chest. She recently noticed a mark on the back of her right hand, but was not sure whether the mark was a rash or a scrape. She lies down in bed and thinks about what might be causing the rash and what to do about it. About two weeks before, she began taking blood pressure medication that contained a sulfa drug, and the pharmacist had warned her, in view of a previous allergic reaction to a medication containing a sulfa drug, to be on the alert for an allergic reaction; however, she had been taking the medication for two weeks with no such effect. The day before, she began using a new cream on her neck and upper chest; against the new cream as the cause was mark on the back of her hand, which had not been exposed to the cream. She began taking probiotics about a month before. She also recently started new eye drops, but she supposed that manufacturers of eye drops would be careful not to include allergy-causing components in the medication. The rash might be a heat rash, since she recently was sweating profusely from her upper body. Since she is about to go away on a short vacation, where she would not have access to her usual physician, she decides to keep taking the probiotics and using the new eye drops but to discontinue the blood pressure medication and to switch back to the old cream for her neck and upper chest. She forms a plan to consult her regular physician on her return about the blood pressure medication.

Candidate : Although Dewey included no examples of thinking directed at appraising the arguments of others, such thinking has come to be considered a kind of critical thinking. We find an example of such thinking in the performance task on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA+), which its sponsoring organization describes as

a performance-based assessment that provides a measure of an institution’s contribution to the development of critical-thinking and written communication skills of its students. (Council for Aid to Education 2017)

A sample task posted on its website requires the test-taker to write a report for public distribution evaluating a fictional candidate’s policy proposals and their supporting arguments, using supplied background documents, with a recommendation on whether to endorse the candidate.

Immediate acceptance of an idea that suggests itself as a solution to a problem (e.g., a possible explanation of an event or phenomenon, an action that seems likely to produce a desired result) is “uncritical thinking, the minimum of reflection” (Dewey 1910: 13). On-going suspension of judgment in the light of doubt about a possible solution is not critical thinking (Dewey 1910: 108). Critique driven by a dogmatically held political or religious ideology is not critical thinking; thus Paulo Freire (1968 [1970]) is using the term (e.g., at 1970: 71, 81, 100, 146) in a more politically freighted sense that includes not only reflection but also revolutionary action against oppression. Derivation of a conclusion from given data using an algorithm is not critical thinking.

What is critical thinking? There are many definitions. Ennis (2016) lists 14 philosophically oriented scholarly definitions and three dictionary definitions. Following Rawls (1971), who distinguished his conception of justice from a utilitarian conception but regarded them as rival conceptions of the same concept, Ennis maintains that the 17 definitions are different conceptions of the same concept. Rawls articulated the shared concept of justice as

a characteristic set of principles for assigning basic rights and duties and for determining… the proper distribution of the benefits and burdens of social cooperation. (Rawls 1971: 5)

Bailin et al. (1999b) claim that, if one considers what sorts of thinking an educator would take not to be critical thinking and what sorts to be critical thinking, one can conclude that educators typically understand critical thinking to have at least three features.

• It is done for the purpose of making up one’s mind about what to believe or do.
• The person engaging in the thinking is trying to fulfill standards of adequacy and accuracy appropriate to the thinking.
• The thinking fulfills the relevant standards to some threshold level.

One could sum up the core concept that involves these three features by saying that critical thinking is careful goal-directed thinking. This core concept seems to apply to all the examples of critical thinking described in the previous section. As for the non-examples, their exclusion depends on construing careful thinking as excluding jumping immediately to conclusions, suspending judgment no matter how strong the evidence, reasoning from an unquestioned ideological or religious perspective, and routinely using an algorithm to answer a question.

If the core of critical thinking is careful goal-directed thinking, conceptions of it can vary according to its presumed scope, its presumed goal, one’s criteria and threshold for being careful, and the thinking component on which one focuses. As to its scope, some conceptions (e.g., Dewey 1910, 1933) restrict it to constructive thinking on the basis of one’s own observations and experiments, others (e.g., Ennis 1962; Fisher & Scriven 1997; Johnson 1992) to appraisal of the products of such thinking. Ennis (1991) and Bailin et al. (1999b) take it to cover both construction and appraisal. As to its goal, some conceptions restrict it to forming a judgment (Dewey 1910, 1933; Lipman 1987; Facione 1990a). Others allow for actions as well as beliefs as the end point of a process of critical thinking (Ennis 1991; Bailin et al. 1999b). As to the criteria and threshold for being careful, definitions vary in the term used to indicate that critical thinking satisfies certain norms: “intellectually disciplined” (Scriven & Paul 1987), “reasonable” (Ennis 1991), “skillful” (Lipman 1987), “skilled” (Fisher & Scriven 1997), “careful” (Bailin & Battersby 2009). Some definitions specify these norms, referring variously to “consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends” (Dewey 1910, 1933); “the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning” (Glaser 1941); “conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication” (Scriven & Paul 1987); the requirement that “it is sensitive to context, relies on criteria, and is self-correcting” (Lipman 1987); “evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations” (Facione 1990a); and “plus-minus considerations of the product in terms of appropriate standards (or criteria)” (Johnson 1992). Stanovich and Stanovich (2010) propose to ground the concept of critical thinking in the concept of rationality, which they understand as combining epistemic rationality (fitting one’s beliefs to the world) and instrumental rationality (optimizing goal fulfillment); a critical thinker, in their view, is someone with “a propensity to override suboptimal responses from the autonomous mind” (2010: 227). These variant specifications of norms for critical thinking are not necessarily incompatible with one another, and in any case presuppose the core notion of thinking carefully. As to the thinking component singled out, some definitions focus on suspension of judgment during the thinking (Dewey 1910; McPeck 1981), others on inquiry while judgment is suspended (Bailin & Battersby 2009, 2021), others on the resulting judgment (Facione 1990a), and still others on responsiveness to reasons (Siegel 1988). Kuhn (2019) takes critical thinking to be more a dialogic practice of advancing and responding to arguments than an individual ability.

In educational contexts, a definition of critical thinking is a “programmatic definition” (Scheffler 1960: 19). It expresses a practical program for achieving an educational goal. For this purpose, a one-sentence formulaic definition is much less useful than articulation of a critical thinking process, with criteria and standards for the kinds of thinking that the process may involve. The real educational goal is recognition, adoption and implementation by students of those criteria and standards. That adoption and implementation in turn consists in acquiring the knowledge, abilities and dispositions of a critical thinker.

Conceptions of critical thinking generally do not include moral integrity as part of the concept. Dewey, for example, took critical thinking to be the ultimate intellectual goal of education, but distinguished it from the development of social cooperation among school children, which he took to be the central moral goal. Ennis (1996, 2011) added to his previous list of critical thinking dispositions a group of dispositions to care about the dignity and worth of every person, which he described as a “correlative” (1996) disposition without which critical thinking would be less valuable and perhaps harmful. An educational program that aimed at developing critical thinking but not the correlative disposition to care about the dignity and worth of every person, he asserted, “would be deficient and perhaps dangerous” (Ennis 1996: 172).

Dewey thought that education for reflective thinking would be of value to both the individual and society; recognition in educational practice of the kinship to the scientific attitude of children’s native curiosity, fertile imagination and love of experimental inquiry “would make for individual happiness and the reduction of social waste” (Dewey 1910: iii). Schools participating in the Eight-Year Study took development of the habit of reflective thinking and skill in solving problems as a means to leading young people to understand, appreciate and live the democratic way of life characteristic of the United States (Aikin 1942: 17–18, 81). Harvey Siegel (1988: 55–61) has offered four considerations in support of adopting critical thinking as an educational ideal. (1) Respect for persons requires that schools and teachers honour students’ demands for reasons and explanations, deal with students honestly, and recognize the need to confront students’ independent judgment; these requirements concern the manner in which teachers treat students. (2) Education has the task of preparing children to be successful adults, a task that requires development of their self-sufficiency. (3) Education should initiate children into the rational traditions in such fields as history, science and mathematics. (4) Education should prepare children to become democratic citizens, which requires reasoned procedures and critical talents and attitudes. To supplement these considerations, Siegel (1988: 62–90) responds to two objections: the ideology objection that adoption of any educational ideal requires a prior ideological commitment and the indoctrination objection that cultivation of critical thinking cannot escape being a form of indoctrination.

Despite the diversity of our 11 examples, one can recognize a common pattern. Dewey analyzed it as consisting of five phases:

• suggestions , in which the mind leaps forward to a possible solution;
• an intellectualization of the difficulty or perplexity into a problem to be solved, a question for which the answer must be sought;
• the use of one suggestion after another as a leading idea, or hypothesis , to initiate and guide observation and other operations in collection of factual material;
• the mental elaboration of the idea or supposition as an idea or supposition ( reasoning , in the sense on which reasoning is a part, not the whole, of inference); and
• testing the hypothesis by overt or imaginative action. (Dewey 1933: 106–107; italics in original)

The process of reflective thinking consisting of these phases would be preceded by a perplexed, troubled or confused situation and followed by a cleared-up, unified, resolved situation (Dewey 1933: 106). The term ‘phases’ replaced the term ‘steps’ (Dewey 1910: 72), thus removing the earlier suggestion of an invariant sequence. Variants of the above analysis appeared in (Dewey 1916: 177) and (Dewey 1938: 101–119).

The variant formulations indicate the difficulty of giving a single logical analysis of such a varied process. The process of critical thinking may have a spiral pattern, with the problem being redefined in the light of obstacles to solving it as originally formulated. For example, the person in Transit might have concluded that getting to the appointment at the scheduled time was impossible and have reformulated the problem as that of rescheduling the appointment for a mutually convenient time. Further, defining a problem does not always follow after or lead immediately to an idea of a suggested solution. Nor should it do so, as Dewey himself recognized in describing the physician in Typhoid as avoiding any strong preference for this or that conclusion before getting further information (Dewey 1910: 85; 1933: 170). People with a hypothesis in mind, even one to which they have a very weak commitment, have a so-called “confirmation bias” (Nickerson 1998): they are likely to pay attention to evidence that confirms the hypothesis and to ignore evidence that counts against it or for some competing hypothesis. Detectives, intelligence agencies, and investigators of airplane accidents are well advised to gather relevant evidence systematically and to postpone even tentative adoption of an explanatory hypothesis until the collected evidence rules out with the appropriate degree of certainty all but one explanation. Dewey’s analysis of the critical thinking process can be faulted as well for requiring acceptance or rejection of a possible solution to a defined problem, with no allowance for deciding in the light of the available evidence to suspend judgment. Further, given the great variety of kinds of problems for which reflection is appropriate, there is likely to be variation in its component events. Perhaps the best way to conceptualize the critical thinking process is as a checklist whose component events can occur in a variety of orders, selectively, and more than once. These component events might include (1) noticing a difficulty, (2) defining the problem, (3) dividing the problem into manageable sub-problems, (4) formulating a variety of possible solutions to the problem or sub-problem, (5) determining what evidence is relevant to deciding among possible solutions to the problem or sub-problem, (6) devising a plan of systematic observation or experiment that will uncover the relevant evidence, (7) carrying out the plan of systematic observation or experimentation, (8) noting the results of the systematic observation or experiment, (9) gathering relevant testimony and information from others, (10) judging the credibility of testimony and information gathered from others, (11) drawing conclusions from gathered evidence and accepted testimony, and (12) accepting a solution that the evidence adequately supports (cf. Hitchcock 2017: 485).

Checklist conceptions of the process of critical thinking are open to the objection that they are too mechanical and procedural to fit the multi-dimensional and emotionally charged issues for which critical thinking is urgently needed (Paul 1984). For such issues, a more dialectical process is advocated, in which competing relevant world views are identified, their implications explored, and some sort of creative synthesis attempted.

If one considers the critical thinking process illustrated by the 11 examples, one can identify distinct kinds of mental acts and mental states that form part of it. To distinguish, label and briefly characterize these components is a useful preliminary to identifying abilities, skills, dispositions, attitudes, habits and the like that contribute causally to thinking critically. Identifying such abilities and habits is in turn a useful preliminary to setting educational goals. Setting the goals is in its turn a useful preliminary to designing strategies for helping learners to achieve the goals and to designing ways of measuring the extent to which learners have done so. Such measures provide both feedback to learners on their achievement and a basis for experimental research on the effectiveness of various strategies for educating people to think critically. Let us begin, then, by distinguishing the kinds of mental acts and mental events that can occur in a critical thinking process.

• Observing : One notices something in one’s immediate environment (sudden cooling of temperature in Weather , bubbles forming outside a glass and then going inside in Bubbles , a moving blur in the distance in Blur , a rash in Rash ). Or one notes the results of an experiment or systematic observation (valuables missing in Disorder , no suction without air pressure in Suction pump )
• Feeling : One feels puzzled or uncertain about something (how to get to an appointment on time in Transit , why the diamonds vary in spacing in Diamond ). One wants to resolve this perplexity. One feels satisfaction once one has worked out an answer (to take the subway express in Transit , diamonds closer when needed as a warning in Diamond ).
• Wondering : One formulates a question to be addressed (why bubbles form outside a tumbler taken from hot water in Bubbles , how suction pumps work in Suction pump , what caused the rash in Rash ).
• Imagining : One thinks of possible answers (bus or subway or elevated in Transit , flagpole or ornament or wireless communication aid or direction indicator in Ferryboat , allergic reaction or heat rash in Rash ).
• Inferring : One works out what would be the case if a possible answer were assumed (valuables missing if there has been a burglary in Disorder , earlier start to the rash if it is an allergic reaction to a sulfa drug in Rash ). Or one draws a conclusion once sufficient relevant evidence is gathered (take the subway in Transit , burglary in Disorder , discontinue blood pressure medication and new cream in Rash ).
• Knowledge : One uses stored knowledge of the subject-matter to generate possible answers or to infer what would be expected on the assumption of a particular answer (knowledge of a city’s public transit system in Transit , of the requirements for a flagpole in Ferryboat , of Boyle’s law in Bubbles , of allergic reactions in Rash ).
• Experimenting : One designs and carries out an experiment or a systematic observation to find out whether the results deduced from a possible answer will occur (looking at the location of the flagpole in relation to the pilot’s position in Ferryboat , putting an ice cube on top of a tumbler taken from hot water in Bubbles , measuring the height to which a suction pump will draw water at different elevations in Suction pump , noticing the spacing of diamonds when movement to or from a diamond lane is allowed in Diamond ).
• Consulting : One finds a source of information, gets the information from the source, and makes a judgment on whether to accept it. None of our 11 examples include searching for sources of information. In this respect they are unrepresentative, since most people nowadays have almost instant access to information relevant to answering any question, including many of those illustrated by the examples. However, Candidate includes the activities of extracting information from sources and evaluating its credibility.
• Identifying and analyzing arguments : One notices an argument and works out its structure and content as a preliminary to evaluating its strength. This activity is central to Candidate . It is an important part of a critical thinking process in which one surveys arguments for various positions on an issue.
• Judging : One makes a judgment on the basis of accumulated evidence and reasoning, such as the judgment in Ferryboat that the purpose of the pole is to provide direction to the pilot.
• Deciding : One makes a decision on what to do or on what policy to adopt, as in the decision in Transit to take the subway.

By definition, a person who does something voluntarily is both willing and able to do that thing at that time. Both the willingness and the ability contribute causally to the person’s action, in the sense that the voluntary action would not occur if either (or both) of these were lacking. For example, suppose that one is standing with one’s arms at one’s sides and one voluntarily lifts one’s right arm to an extended horizontal position. One would not do so if one were unable to lift one’s arm, if for example one’s right side was paralyzed as the result of a stroke. Nor would one do so if one were unwilling to lift one’s arm, if for example one were participating in a street demonstration at which a white supremacist was urging the crowd to lift their right arm in a Nazi salute and one were unwilling to express support in this way for the racist Nazi ideology. The same analysis applies to a voluntary mental process of thinking critically. It requires both willingness and ability to think critically, including willingness and ability to perform each of the mental acts that compose the process and to coordinate those acts in a sequence that is directed at resolving the initiating perplexity.

Consider willingness first. We can identify causal contributors to willingness to think critically by considering factors that would cause a person who was able to think critically about an issue nevertheless not to do so (Hamby 2014). For each factor, the opposite condition thus contributes causally to willingness to think critically on a particular occasion. For example, people who habitually jump to conclusions without considering alternatives will not think critically about issues that arise, even if they have the required abilities. The contrary condition of willingness to suspend judgment is thus a causal contributor to thinking critically.

Now consider ability. In contrast to the ability to move one’s arm, which can be completely absent because a stroke has left the arm paralyzed, the ability to think critically is a developed ability, whose absence is not a complete absence of ability to think but absence of ability to think well. We can identify the ability to think well directly, in terms of the norms and standards for good thinking. In general, to be able do well the thinking activities that can be components of a critical thinking process, one needs to know the concepts and principles that characterize their good performance, to recognize in particular cases that the concepts and principles apply, and to apply them. The knowledge, recognition and application may be procedural rather than declarative. It may be domain-specific rather than widely applicable, and in either case may need subject-matter knowledge, sometimes of a deep kind.

Reflections of the sort illustrated by the previous two paragraphs have led scholars to identify the knowledge, abilities and dispositions of a “critical thinker”, i.e., someone who thinks critically whenever it is appropriate to do so. We turn now to these three types of causal contributors to thinking critically. We start with dispositions, since arguably these are the most powerful contributors to being a critical thinker, can be fostered at an early stage of a child’s development, and are susceptible to general improvement (Glaser 1941: 175)

8. Critical Thinking Dispositions

Educational researchers use the term ‘dispositions’ broadly for the habits of mind and attitudes that contribute causally to being a critical thinker. Some writers (e.g., Paul & Elder 2006; Hamby 2014; Bailin & Battersby 2016a) propose to use the term ‘virtues’ for this dimension of a critical thinker. The virtues in question, although they are virtues of character, concern the person’s ways of thinking rather than the person’s ways of behaving towards others. They are not moral virtues but intellectual virtues, of the sort articulated by Zagzebski (1996) and discussed by Turri, Alfano, and Greco (2017).

On a realistic conception, thinking dispositions or intellectual virtues are real properties of thinkers. They are general tendencies, propensities, or inclinations to think in particular ways in particular circumstances, and can be genuinely explanatory (Siegel 1999). Sceptics argue that there is no evidence for a specific mental basis for the habits of mind that contribute to thinking critically, and that it is pedagogically misleading to posit such a basis (Bailin et al. 1999a). Whatever their status, critical thinking dispositions need motivation for their initial formation in a child—motivation that may be external or internal. As children develop, the force of habit will gradually become important in sustaining the disposition (Nieto & Valenzuela 2012). Mere force of habit, however, is unlikely to sustain critical thinking dispositions. Critical thinkers must value and enjoy using their knowledge and abilities to think things through for themselves. They must be committed to, and lovers of, inquiry.

A person may have a critical thinking disposition with respect to only some kinds of issues. For example, one could be open-minded about scientific issues but not about religious issues. Similarly, one could be confident in one’s ability to reason about the theological implications of the existence of evil in the world but not in one’s ability to reason about the best design for a guided ballistic missile.

Facione (1990a: 25) divides “affective dispositions” of critical thinking into approaches to life and living in general and approaches to specific issues, questions or problems. Adapting this distinction, one can usefully divide critical thinking dispositions into initiating dispositions (those that contribute causally to starting to think critically about an issue) and internal dispositions (those that contribute causally to doing a good job of thinking critically once one has started). The two categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, open-mindedness, in the sense of willingness to consider alternative points of view to one’s own, is both an initiating and an internal disposition.

Using the strategy of considering factors that would block people with the ability to think critically from doing so, we can identify as initiating dispositions for thinking critically attentiveness, a habit of inquiry, self-confidence, courage, open-mindedness, willingness to suspend judgment, trust in reason, wanting evidence for one’s beliefs, and seeking the truth. We consider briefly what each of these dispositions amounts to, in each case citing sources that acknowledge them.

• Attentiveness : One will not think critically if one fails to recognize an issue that needs to be thought through. For example, the pedestrian in Weather would not have looked up if he had not noticed that the air was suddenly cooler. To be a critical thinker, then, one needs to be habitually attentive to one’s surroundings, noticing not only what one senses but also sources of perplexity in messages received and in one’s own beliefs and attitudes (Facione 1990a: 25; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001).
• Habit of inquiry : Inquiry is effortful, and one needs an internal push to engage in it. For example, the student in Bubbles could easily have stopped at idle wondering about the cause of the bubbles rather than reasoning to a hypothesis, then designing and executing an experiment to test it. Thus willingness to think critically needs mental energy and initiative. What can supply that energy? Love of inquiry, or perhaps just a habit of inquiry. Hamby (2015) has argued that willingness to inquire is the central critical thinking virtue, one that encompasses all the others. It is recognized as a critical thinking disposition by Dewey (1910: 29; 1933: 35), Glaser (1941: 5), Ennis (1987: 12; 1991: 8), Facione (1990a: 25), Bailin et al. (1999b: 294), Halpern (1998: 452), and Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo (2001).
• Self-confidence : Lack of confidence in one’s abilities can block critical thinking. For example, if the woman in Rash lacked confidence in her ability to figure things out for herself, she might just have assumed that the rash on her chest was the allergic reaction to her medication against which the pharmacist had warned her. Thus willingness to think critically requires confidence in one’s ability to inquire (Facione 1990a: 25; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001).
• Courage : Fear of thinking for oneself can stop one from doing it. Thus willingness to think critically requires intellectual courage (Paul & Elder 2006: 16).
• Open-mindedness : A dogmatic attitude will impede thinking critically. For example, a person who adheres rigidly to a “pro-choice” position on the issue of the legal status of induced abortion is likely to be unwilling to consider seriously the issue of when in its development an unborn child acquires a moral right to life. Thus willingness to think critically requires open-mindedness, in the sense of a willingness to examine questions to which one already accepts an answer but which further evidence or reasoning might cause one to answer differently (Dewey 1933; Facione 1990a; Ennis 1991; Bailin et al. 1999b; Halpern 1998, Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001). Paul (1981) emphasizes open-mindedness about alternative world-views, and recommends a dialectical approach to integrating such views as central to what he calls “strong sense” critical thinking. In three studies, Haran, Ritov, & Mellers (2013) found that actively open-minded thinking, including “the tendency to weigh new evidence against a favored belief, to spend sufficient time on a problem before giving up, and to consider carefully the opinions of others in forming one’s own”, led study participants to acquire information and thus to make accurate estimations.
• Willingness to suspend judgment : Premature closure on an initial solution will block critical thinking. Thus willingness to think critically requires a willingness to suspend judgment while alternatives are explored (Facione 1990a; Ennis 1991; Halpern 1998).
• Trust in reason : Since distrust in the processes of reasoned inquiry will dissuade one from engaging in it, trust in them is an initiating critical thinking disposition (Facione 1990a, 25; Bailin et al. 1999b: 294; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001; Paul & Elder 2006). In reaction to an allegedly exclusive emphasis on reason in critical thinking theory and pedagogy, Thayer-Bacon (2000) argues that intuition, imagination, and emotion have important roles to play in an adequate conception of critical thinking that she calls “constructive thinking”. From her point of view, critical thinking requires trust not only in reason but also in intuition, imagination, and emotion.
• Seeking the truth : If one does not care about the truth but is content to stick with one’s initial bias on an issue, then one will not think critically about it. Seeking the truth is thus an initiating critical thinking disposition (Bailin et al. 1999b: 294; Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo 2001). A disposition to seek the truth is implicit in more specific critical thinking dispositions, such as trying to be well-informed, considering seriously points of view other than one’s own, looking for alternatives, suspending judgment when the evidence is insufficient, and adopting a position when the evidence supporting it is sufficient.

Some of the initiating dispositions, such as open-mindedness and willingness to suspend judgment, are also internal critical thinking dispositions, in the sense of mental habits or attitudes that contribute causally to doing a good job of critical thinking once one starts the process. But there are many other internal critical thinking dispositions. Some of them are parasitic on one’s conception of good thinking. For example, it is constitutive of good thinking about an issue to formulate the issue clearly and to maintain focus on it. For this purpose, one needs not only the corresponding ability but also the corresponding disposition. Ennis (1991: 8) describes it as the disposition “to determine and maintain focus on the conclusion or question”, Facione (1990a: 25) as “clarity in stating the question or concern”. Other internal dispositions are motivators to continue or adjust the critical thinking process, such as willingness to persist in a complex task and willingness to abandon nonproductive strategies in an attempt to self-correct (Halpern 1998: 452). For a list of identified internal critical thinking dispositions, see the Supplement on Internal Critical Thinking Dispositions .

Some theorists postulate skills, i.e., acquired abilities, as operative in critical thinking. It is not obvious, however, that a good mental act is the exercise of a generic acquired skill. Inferring an expected time of arrival, as in Transit , has some generic components but also uses non-generic subject-matter knowledge. Bailin et al. (1999a) argue against viewing critical thinking skills as generic and discrete, on the ground that skilled performance at a critical thinking task cannot be separated from knowledge of concepts and from domain-specific principles of good thinking. Talk of skills, they concede, is unproblematic if it means merely that a person with critical thinking skills is capable of intelligent performance.

Despite such scepticism, theorists of critical thinking have listed as general contributors to critical thinking what they variously call abilities (Glaser 1941; Ennis 1962, 1991), skills (Facione 1990a; Halpern 1998) or competencies (Fisher & Scriven 1997). Amalgamating these lists would produce a confusing and chaotic cornucopia of more than 50 possible educational objectives, with only partial overlap among them. It makes sense instead to try to understand the reasons for the multiplicity and diversity, and to make a selection according to one’s own reasons for singling out abilities to be developed in a critical thinking curriculum. Two reasons for diversity among lists of critical thinking abilities are the underlying conception of critical thinking and the envisaged educational level. Appraisal-only conceptions, for example, involve a different suite of abilities than constructive-only conceptions. Some lists, such as those in (Glaser 1941), are put forward as educational objectives for secondary school students, whereas others are proposed as objectives for college students (e.g., Facione 1990a).

The abilities described in the remaining paragraphs of this section emerge from reflection on the general abilities needed to do well the thinking activities identified in section 6 as components of the critical thinking process described in section 5 . The derivation of each collection of abilities is accompanied by citation of sources that list such abilities and of standardized tests that claim to test them.

Observational abilities : Careful and accurate observation sometimes requires specialist expertise and practice, as in the case of observing birds and observing accident scenes. However, there are general abilities of noticing what one’s senses are picking up from one’s environment and of being able to articulate clearly and accurately to oneself and others what one has observed. It helps in exercising them to be able to recognize and take into account factors that make one’s observation less trustworthy, such as prior framing of the situation, inadequate time, deficient senses, poor observation conditions, and the like. It helps as well to be skilled at taking steps to make one’s observation more trustworthy, such as moving closer to get a better look, measuring something three times and taking the average, and checking what one thinks one is observing with someone else who is in a good position to observe it. It also helps to be skilled at recognizing respects in which one’s report of one’s observation involves inference rather than direct observation, so that one can then consider whether the inference is justified. These abilities come into play as well when one thinks about whether and with what degree of confidence to accept an observation report, for example in the study of history or in a criminal investigation or in assessing news reports. Observational abilities show up in some lists of critical thinking abilities (Ennis 1962: 90; Facione 1990a: 16; Ennis 1991: 9). There are items testing a person’s ability to judge the credibility of observation reports in the Cornell Critical Thinking Tests, Levels X and Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005). Norris and King (1983, 1985, 1990a, 1990b) is a test of ability to appraise observation reports.

Emotional abilities : The emotions that drive a critical thinking process are perplexity or puzzlement, a wish to resolve it, and satisfaction at achieving the desired resolution. Children experience these emotions at an early age, without being trained to do so. Education that takes critical thinking as a goal needs only to channel these emotions and to make sure not to stifle them. Collaborative critical thinking benefits from ability to recognize one’s own and others’ emotional commitments and reactions.

Questioning abilities : A critical thinking process needs transformation of an inchoate sense of perplexity into a clear question. Formulating a question well requires not building in questionable assumptions, not prejudging the issue, and using language that in context is unambiguous and precise enough (Ennis 1962: 97; 1991: 9).

Imaginative abilities : Thinking directed at finding the correct causal explanation of a general phenomenon or particular event requires an ability to imagine possible explanations. Thinking about what policy or plan of action to adopt requires generation of options and consideration of possible consequences of each option. Domain knowledge is required for such creative activity, but a general ability to imagine alternatives is helpful and can be nurtured so as to become easier, quicker, more extensive, and deeper (Dewey 1910: 34–39; 1933: 40–47). Facione (1990a) and Halpern (1998) include the ability to imagine alternatives as a critical thinking ability.

Inferential abilities : The ability to draw conclusions from given information, and to recognize with what degree of certainty one’s own or others’ conclusions follow, is universally recognized as a general critical thinking ability. All 11 examples in section 2 of this article include inferences, some from hypotheses or options (as in Transit , Ferryboat and Disorder ), others from something observed (as in Weather and Rash ). None of these inferences is formally valid. Rather, they are licensed by general, sometimes qualified substantive rules of inference (Toulmin 1958) that rest on domain knowledge—that a bus trip takes about the same time in each direction, that the terminal of a wireless telegraph would be located on the highest possible place, that sudden cooling is often followed by rain, that an allergic reaction to a sulfa drug generally shows up soon after one starts taking it. It is a matter of controversy to what extent the specialized ability to deduce conclusions from premisses using formal rules of inference is needed for critical thinking. Dewey (1933) locates logical forms in setting out the products of reflection rather than in the process of reflection. Ennis (1981a), on the other hand, maintains that a liberally-educated person should have the following abilities: to translate natural-language statements into statements using the standard logical operators, to use appropriately the language of necessary and sufficient conditions, to deal with argument forms and arguments containing symbols, to determine whether in virtue of an argument’s form its conclusion follows necessarily from its premisses, to reason with logically complex propositions, and to apply the rules and procedures of deductive logic. Inferential abilities are recognized as critical thinking abilities by Glaser (1941: 6), Facione (1990a: 9), Ennis (1991: 9), Fisher & Scriven (1997: 99, 111), and Halpern (1998: 452). Items testing inferential abilities constitute two of the five subtests of the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (Watson & Glaser 1980a, 1980b, 1994), two of the four sections in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005), three of the seven sections in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005), 11 of the 34 items on Forms A and B of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (Facione 1990b, 1992), and a high but variable proportion of the 25 selected-response questions in the Collegiate Learning Assessment (Council for Aid to Education 2017).

Experimenting abilities : Knowing how to design and execute an experiment is important not just in scientific research but also in everyday life, as in Rash . Dewey devoted a whole chapter of his How We Think (1910: 145–156; 1933: 190–202) to the superiority of experimentation over observation in advancing knowledge. Experimenting abilities come into play at one remove in appraising reports of scientific studies. Skill in designing and executing experiments includes the acknowledged abilities to appraise evidence (Glaser 1941: 6), to carry out experiments and to apply appropriate statistical inference techniques (Facione 1990a: 9), to judge inductions to an explanatory hypothesis (Ennis 1991: 9), and to recognize the need for an adequately large sample size (Halpern 1998). The Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005) includes four items (out of 52) on experimental design. The Collegiate Learning Assessment (Council for Aid to Education 2017) makes room for appraisal of study design in both its performance task and its selected-response questions.

Consulting abilities : Skill at consulting sources of information comes into play when one seeks information to help resolve a problem, as in Candidate . Ability to find and appraise information includes ability to gather and marshal pertinent information (Glaser 1941: 6), to judge whether a statement made by an alleged authority is acceptable (Ennis 1962: 84), to plan a search for desired information (Facione 1990a: 9), and to judge the credibility of a source (Ennis 1991: 9). Ability to judge the credibility of statements is tested by 24 items (out of 76) in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005) and by four items (out of 52) in the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Ennis & Millman 1971; Ennis, Millman, & Tomko 1985, 2005). The College Learning Assessment’s performance task requires evaluation of whether information in documents is credible or unreliable (Council for Aid to Education 2017).

Argument analysis abilities : The ability to identify and analyze arguments contributes to the process of surveying arguments on an issue in order to form one’s own reasoned judgment, as in Candidate . The ability to detect and analyze arguments is recognized as a critical thinking skill by Facione (1990a: 7–8), Ennis (1991: 9) and Halpern (1998). Five items (out of 34) on the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (Facione 1990b, 1992) test skill at argument analysis. The College Learning Assessment (Council for Aid to Education 2017) incorporates argument analysis in its selected-response tests of critical reading and evaluation and of critiquing an argument.

Judging skills and deciding skills : Skill at judging and deciding is skill at recognizing what judgment or decision the available evidence and argument supports, and with what degree of confidence. It is thus a component of the inferential skills already discussed.

Lists and tests of critical thinking abilities often include two more abilities: identifying assumptions and constructing and evaluating definitions.

In addition to dispositions and abilities, critical thinking needs knowledge: of critical thinking concepts, of critical thinking principles, and of the subject-matter of the thinking.

We can derive a short list of concepts whose understanding contributes to critical thinking from the critical thinking abilities described in the preceding section. Observational abilities require an understanding of the difference between observation and inference. Questioning abilities require an understanding of the concepts of ambiguity and vagueness. Inferential abilities require an understanding of the difference between conclusive and defeasible inference (traditionally, between deduction and induction), as well as of the difference between necessary and sufficient conditions. Experimenting abilities require an understanding of the concepts of hypothesis, null hypothesis, assumption and prediction, as well as of the concept of statistical significance and of its difference from importance. They also require an understanding of the difference between an experiment and an observational study, and in particular of the difference between a randomized controlled trial, a prospective correlational study and a retrospective (case-control) study. Argument analysis abilities require an understanding of the concepts of argument, premiss, assumption, conclusion and counter-consideration. Additional critical thinking concepts are proposed by Bailin et al. (1999b: 293), Fisher & Scriven (1997: 105–106), Black (2012), and Blair (2021).

According to Glaser (1941: 25), ability to think critically requires knowledge of the methods of logical inquiry and reasoning. If we review the list of abilities in the preceding section, however, we can see that some of them can be acquired and exercised merely through practice, possibly guided in an educational setting, followed by feedback. Searching intelligently for a causal explanation of some phenomenon or event requires that one consider a full range of possible causal contributors, but it seems more important that one implements this principle in one’s practice than that one is able to articulate it. What is important is “operational knowledge” of the standards and principles of good thinking (Bailin et al. 1999b: 291–293). But the development of such critical thinking abilities as designing an experiment or constructing an operational definition can benefit from learning their underlying theory. Further, explicit knowledge of quirks of human thinking seems useful as a cautionary guide. Human memory is not just fallible about details, as people learn from their own experiences of misremembering, but is so malleable that a detailed, clear and vivid recollection of an event can be a total fabrication (Loftus 2017). People seek or interpret evidence in ways that are partial to their existing beliefs and expectations, often unconscious of their “confirmation bias” (Nickerson 1998). Not only are people subject to this and other cognitive biases (Kahneman 2011), of which they are typically unaware, but it may be counter-productive for one to make oneself aware of them and try consciously to counteract them or to counteract social biases such as racial or sexual stereotypes (Kenyon & Beaulac 2014). It is helpful to be aware of these facts and of the superior effectiveness of blocking the operation of biases—for example, by making an immediate record of one’s observations, refraining from forming a preliminary explanatory hypothesis, blind refereeing, double-blind randomized trials, and blind grading of students’ work. It is also helpful to be aware of the prevalence of “noise” (unwanted unsystematic variability of judgments), of how to detect noise (through a noise audit), and of how to reduce noise: make accuracy the goal, think statistically, break a process of arriving at a judgment into independent tasks, resist premature intuitions, in a group get independent judgments first, favour comparative judgments and scales (Kahneman, Sibony, & Sunstein 2021). It is helpful as well to be aware of the concept of “bounded rationality” in decision-making and of the related distinction between “satisficing” and optimizing (Simon 1956; Gigerenzer 2001).

Critical thinking about an issue requires substantive knowledge of the domain to which the issue belongs. Critical thinking abilities are not a magic elixir that can be applied to any issue whatever by somebody who has no knowledge of the facts relevant to exploring that issue. For example, the student in Bubbles needed to know that gases do not penetrate solid objects like a glass, that air expands when heated, that the volume of an enclosed gas varies directly with its temperature and inversely with its pressure, and that hot objects will spontaneously cool down to the ambient temperature of their surroundings unless kept hot by insulation or a source of heat. Critical thinkers thus need a rich fund of subject-matter knowledge relevant to the variety of situations they encounter. This fact is recognized in the inclusion among critical thinking dispositions of a concern to become and remain generally well informed.

Experimental educational interventions, with control groups, have shown that education can improve critical thinking skills and dispositions, as measured by standardized tests. For information about these tests, see the Supplement on Assessment .

What educational methods are most effective at developing the dispositions, abilities and knowledge of a critical thinker? In a comprehensive meta-analysis of experimental and quasi-experimental studies of strategies for teaching students to think critically, Abrami et al. (2015) found that dialogue, anchored instruction, and mentoring each increased the effectiveness of the educational intervention, and that they were most effective when combined. They also found that in these studies a combination of separate instruction in critical thinking with subject-matter instruction in which students are encouraged to think critically was more effective than either by itself. However, the difference was not statistically significant; that is, it might have arisen by chance.

Most of these studies lack the longitudinal follow-up required to determine whether the observed differential improvements in critical thinking abilities or dispositions continue over time, for example until high school or college graduation. For details on studies of methods of developing critical thinking skills and dispositions, see the Supplement on Educational Methods .

12. Controversies

Scholars have denied the generalizability of critical thinking abilities across subject domains, have alleged bias in critical thinking theory and pedagogy, and have investigated the relationship of critical thinking to other kinds of thinking.

McPeck (1981) attacked the thinking skills movement of the 1970s, including the critical thinking movement. He argued that there are no general thinking skills, since thinking is always thinking about some subject-matter. It is futile, he claimed, for schools and colleges to teach thinking as if it were a separate subject. Rather, teachers should lead their pupils to become autonomous thinkers by teaching school subjects in a way that brings out their cognitive structure and that encourages and rewards discussion and argument. As some of his critics (e.g., Paul 1985; Siegel 1985) pointed out, McPeck’s central argument needs elaboration, since it has obvious counter-examples in writing and speaking, for which (up to a certain level of complexity) there are teachable general abilities even though they are always about some subject-matter. To make his argument convincing, McPeck needs to explain how thinking differs from writing and speaking in a way that does not permit useful abstraction of its components from the subject-matters with which it deals. He has not done so. Nevertheless, his position that the dispositions and abilities of a critical thinker are best developed in the context of subject-matter instruction is shared by many theorists of critical thinking, including Dewey (1910, 1933), Glaser (1941), Passmore (1980), Weinstein (1990), Bailin et al. (1999b), and Willingham (2019).

McPeck’s challenge prompted reflection on the extent to which critical thinking is subject-specific. McPeck argued for a strong subject-specificity thesis, according to which it is a conceptual truth that all critical thinking abilities are specific to a subject. (He did not however extend his subject-specificity thesis to critical thinking dispositions. In particular, he took the disposition to suspend judgment in situations of cognitive dissonance to be a general disposition.) Conceptual subject-specificity is subject to obvious counter-examples, such as the general ability to recognize confusion of necessary and sufficient conditions. A more modest thesis, also endorsed by McPeck, is epistemological subject-specificity, according to which the norms of good thinking vary from one field to another. Epistemological subject-specificity clearly holds to a certain extent; for example, the principles in accordance with which one solves a differential equation are quite different from the principles in accordance with which one determines whether a painting is a genuine Picasso. But the thesis suffers, as Ennis (1989) points out, from vagueness of the concept of a field or subject and from the obvious existence of inter-field principles, however broadly the concept of a field is construed. For example, the principles of hypothetico-deductive reasoning hold for all the varied fields in which such reasoning occurs. A third kind of subject-specificity is empirical subject-specificity, according to which as a matter of empirically observable fact a person with the abilities and dispositions of a critical thinker in one area of investigation will not necessarily have them in another area of investigation.

The thesis of empirical subject-specificity raises the general problem of transfer. If critical thinking abilities and dispositions have to be developed independently in each school subject, how are they of any use in dealing with the problems of everyday life and the political and social issues of contemporary society, most of which do not fit into the framework of a traditional school subject? Proponents of empirical subject-specificity tend to argue that transfer is more likely to occur if there is critical thinking instruction in a variety of domains, with explicit attention to dispositions and abilities that cut across domains. But evidence for this claim is scanty. There is a need for well-designed empirical studies that investigate the conditions that make transfer more likely.

It is common ground in debates about the generality or subject-specificity of critical thinking dispositions and abilities that critical thinking about any topic requires background knowledge about the topic. For example, the most sophisticated understanding of the principles of hypothetico-deductive reasoning is of no help unless accompanied by some knowledge of what might be plausible explanations of some phenomenon under investigation.

Critics have objected to bias in the theory, pedagogy and practice of critical thinking. Commentators (e.g., Alston 1995; Ennis 1998) have noted that anyone who takes a position has a bias in the neutral sense of being inclined in one direction rather than others. The critics, however, are objecting to bias in the pejorative sense of an unjustified favoring of certain ways of knowing over others, frequently alleging that the unjustly favoured ways are those of a dominant sex or culture (Bailin 1995). These ways favour:

• reinforcement of egocentric and sociocentric biases over dialectical engagement with opposing world-views (Paul 1981, 1984; Warren 1998)
• distancing from the object of inquiry over closeness to it (Martin 1992; Thayer-Bacon 1992)
• indifference to the situation of others over care for them (Martin 1992)
• orientation to thought over orientation to action (Martin 1992)
• being reasonable over caring to understand people’s ideas (Thayer-Bacon 1993)
• being neutral and objective over being embodied and situated (Thayer-Bacon 1995a)
• doubting over believing (Thayer-Bacon 1995b)
• reason over emotion, imagination and intuition (Thayer-Bacon 2000)
• solitary thinking over collaborative thinking (Thayer-Bacon 2000)
• written and spoken assignments over other forms of expression (Alston 2001)
• attention to written and spoken communications over attention to human problems (Alston 2001)
• winning debates in the public sphere over making and understanding meaning (Alston 2001)

A common thread in this smorgasbord of accusations is dissatisfaction with focusing on the logical analysis and evaluation of reasoning and arguments. While these authors acknowledge that such analysis and evaluation is part of critical thinking and should be part of its conceptualization and pedagogy, they insist that it is only a part. Paul (1981), for example, bemoans the tendency of atomistic teaching of methods of analyzing and evaluating arguments to turn students into more able sophists, adept at finding fault with positions and arguments with which they disagree but even more entrenched in the egocentric and sociocentric biases with which they began. Martin (1992) and Thayer-Bacon (1992) cite with approval the self-reported intimacy with their subject-matter of leading researchers in biology and medicine, an intimacy that conflicts with the distancing allegedly recommended in standard conceptions and pedagogy of critical thinking. Thayer-Bacon (2000) contrasts the embodied and socially embedded learning of her elementary school students in a Montessori school, who used their imagination, intuition and emotions as well as their reason, with conceptions of critical thinking as

thinking that is used to critique arguments, offer justifications, and make judgments about what are the good reasons, or the right answers. (Thayer-Bacon 2000: 127–128)

Alston (2001) reports that her students in a women’s studies class were able to see the flaws in the Cinderella myth that pervades much romantic fiction but in their own romantic relationships still acted as if all failures were the woman’s fault and still accepted the notions of love at first sight and living happily ever after. Students, she writes, should

be able to connect their intellectual critique to a more affective, somatic, and ethical account of making risky choices that have sexist, racist, classist, familial, sexual, or other consequences for themselves and those both near and far… critical thinking that reads arguments, texts, or practices merely on the surface without connections to feeling/desiring/doing or action lacks an ethical depth that should infuse the difference between mere cognitive activity and something we want to call critical thinking. (Alston 2001: 34)

Some critics portray such biases as unfair to women. Thayer-Bacon (1992), for example, has charged modern critical thinking theory with being sexist, on the ground that it separates the self from the object and causes one to lose touch with one’s inner voice, and thus stigmatizes women, who (she asserts) link self to object and listen to their inner voice. Her charge does not imply that women as a group are on average less able than men to analyze and evaluate arguments. Facione (1990c) found no difference by sex in performance on his California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Kuhn (1991: 280–281) found no difference by sex in either the disposition or the competence to engage in argumentative thinking.

The critics propose a variety of remedies for the biases that they allege. In general, they do not propose to eliminate or downplay critical thinking as an educational goal. Rather, they propose to conceptualize critical thinking differently and to change its pedagogy accordingly. Their pedagogical proposals arise logically from their objections. They can be summarized as follows:

• Focus on argument networks with dialectical exchanges reflecting contesting points of view rather than on atomic arguments, so as to develop “strong sense” critical thinking that transcends egocentric and sociocentric biases (Paul 1981, 1984).
• Foster closeness to the subject-matter and feeling connected to others in order to inform a humane democracy (Martin 1992).
• Develop “constructive thinking” as a social activity in a community of physically embodied and socially embedded inquirers with personal voices who value not only reason but also imagination, intuition and emotion (Thayer-Bacon 2000).
• In developing critical thinking in school subjects, treat as important neither skills nor dispositions but opening worlds of meaning (Alston 2001).
• Attend to the development of critical thinking dispositions as well as skills, and adopt the “critical pedagogy” practised and advocated by Freire (1968 [1970]) and hooks (1994) (Dalgleish, Girard, & Davies 2017).

A common thread in these proposals is treatment of critical thinking as a social, interactive, personally engaged activity like that of a quilting bee or a barn-raising (Thayer-Bacon 2000) rather than as an individual, solitary, distanced activity symbolized by Rodin’s The Thinker . One can get a vivid description of education with the former type of goal from the writings of bell hooks (1994, 2010). Critical thinking for her is open-minded dialectical exchange across opposing standpoints and from multiple perspectives, a conception similar to Paul’s “strong sense” critical thinking (Paul 1981). She abandons the structure of domination in the traditional classroom. In an introductory course on black women writers, for example, she assigns students to write an autobiographical paragraph about an early racial memory, then to read it aloud as the others listen, thus affirming the uniqueness and value of each voice and creating a communal awareness of the diversity of the group’s experiences (hooks 1994: 84). Her “engaged pedagogy” is thus similar to the “freedom under guidance” implemented in John Dewey’s Laboratory School of Chicago in the late 1890s and early 1900s. It incorporates the dialogue, anchored instruction, and mentoring that Abrami (2015) found to be most effective in improving critical thinking skills and dispositions.

What is the relationship of critical thinking to problem solving, decision-making, higher-order thinking, creative thinking, and other recognized types of thinking? One’s answer to this question obviously depends on how one defines the terms used in the question. If critical thinking is conceived broadly to cover any careful thinking about any topic for any purpose, then problem solving and decision making will be kinds of critical thinking, if they are done carefully. Historically, ‘critical thinking’ and ‘problem solving’ were two names for the same thing. If critical thinking is conceived more narrowly as consisting solely of appraisal of intellectual products, then it will be disjoint with problem solving and decision making, which are constructive.

Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives used the phrase “intellectual abilities and skills” for what had been labeled “critical thinking” by some, “reflective thinking” by Dewey and others, and “problem solving” by still others (Bloom et al. 1956: 38). Thus, the so-called “higher-order thinking skills” at the taxonomy’s top levels of analysis, synthesis and evaluation are just critical thinking skills, although they do not come with general criteria for their assessment (Ennis 1981b). The revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson et al. 2001) likewise treats critical thinking as cutting across those types of cognitive process that involve more than remembering (Anderson et al. 2001: 269–270). For details, see the Supplement on History .

As to creative thinking, it overlaps with critical thinking (Bailin 1987, 1988). Thinking about the explanation of some phenomenon or event, as in Ferryboat , requires creative imagination in constructing plausible explanatory hypotheses. Likewise, thinking about a policy question, as in Candidate , requires creativity in coming up with options. Conversely, creativity in any field needs to be balanced by critical appraisal of the draft painting or novel or mathematical theory.

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Exploring perceptions and barriers in developing critical thinking and clinical reasoning of nursing students: A qualitative study

Affiliations.

• 1 Ward 5A-General Medicine, Nursing Department, National University Hospital/National University Health System, 5 Lower Kent Ridge Road, Singapore 119074, Singapore. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 2 Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore 117597, Singapore. Electronic address: [email protected].
• PMID: 32992269
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nedt.2020.104600

Aim: The aims of this study were to explore year two nursing students' perceptions toward critical thinking and clinical reasoning and to identify the barriers faced by the students in developing critical thinking and clinical reasoning.

Background: Critical thinking and clinical reasoning are core competencies emphasized in nursing practices. Nursing students are required to develop and practice these skills throughout their nursing programs to graduate as competent nurses. However, recent studies still report a lack of critical thinking and clinical reasoning in nursing students and fresh graduates. Hence, it is important to recognize the perceptions of nursing students and the barriers that they face in developing critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills.

Methods: An exploratory descriptive qualitative study design was adopted. Twenty nursing students were recruited from a university in Singapore. Individual face-to-face interviews, using semi-structured questions and an interview guide, were conducted in the academic year 2018/2019. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.

Results: Seven themes were emerged, namely: 1) essentials for nursing practices, 2) linking theory to practice, 3) individual thought process, 4) stimulating strategies, 5) classroom environment, 6) clinical environment, and 7) students' attributes. Nursing students perceived critical thinking and clinical reasoning as essential for nursing practices and described these skills as linking theory to practice. Strategies such as simulation, case studies, real clinical experiences, and guidance from clinical instructors/preceptors were found to stimulate critical thinking and clinical reasoning for the students. Barriers to developing critical thinking included classroom environments, such teaching methods and student-to-tutor ratios, ward environments/cultures, and students' attributes/attitudes toward learning.

Conclusion: The findings provided areas for improvement in the current nursing education and practices to better support nursing students in developing critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills.

Keywords: Clinical problem-solving; Clinical reasoning; Critical thinking; Nursing education; Nursing students; Perceptions; Qualitative study.

Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

• Clinical Reasoning
• Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate*
• Students, Nursing*

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• v.8(2); 2020 Apr

Barriers of Critical Thinking in Medical Students' Curriculum from the Viewpoint of Medical Education Experts: A Qualitative Study

Afshineh kasalaei, msc.

1 Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

MITRA AMINI, MD

2 Clinical Education Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

PARISA NABEIEI, MSc

Leila bazrafkan, phd, houri mousavinezhad, bsc.

3 Cardiovascular Research Centre, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Introduction:

 The widespread developments of the twenty-first century have been accompanied by the presentation of intellectual patterns and theories and new achievements. These new achievements emphasize the skill of thinking at high levels, especially in the educational system of universities. This skill is essential for medical students; therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the qualitative barriers of critical thinking in medical students' curriculum.

 This is a qualitative study in which the content analysis method has been used. Participants of this study included 11 medical education experts and medical students (6 females and 5 males) who were selected through a semi-structured interview and purposeful sampling. The data analysis method was conventional content analysis. In the next part, by more investigation of the data, various obtained concepts will be presented in the form of themes, categories, and subcategories.

We obtained two themes (socio-cultural conditions and traditional and unchanging system of education), eight categories and 14 subcategories. Also, these categories were resistance to critical society, intellectual tension, personality characteristics, lack of understanding of society's need for criticism, the rule of traditional teaching pattern, lack of critical thinking skills, ineffective evaluation, and difficulty of critical thinking training.

Conclusion:

 Given the results and the main emphasis of curriculum planners on incorporating high-level critical thinking and revision skills into the curriculum, the country's academic education system requires a change in the thinking style, research, deepening critical thinking, and a change in teachers' attitudes toward curriculum designing (goals, content, teaching and evaluation methods); also, it is suggested that the authorities should pay attention to the need to develop and utilize critical thinking skills in the learners’ education.

Introduction

The widespread and vast developments of the 21st century are accompanied by the presentation of intellectual patterns and theories and the production of modern science and technology. One of the new achievements of this century is emphasis on thinking methods, especially in the educational system ( 1 ).

Critical education is a relatively modern theory developed by educators such as Paulo Freiere, Henry Giroux, Peter McLaren, Michael Apple, and Douglass Kellner based on the principles of critical theory ( 2 ). In this type of education, wisdom, critique, and interpretation are considered as valuable educational goals. The primary approach of this tutorial is, as mentioned before, toward critical thinking. In this type of training, the use of memory and old knowledge is diminished, and learners can analyze, evaluate, and interpret the material. Accordingly, the training of the criticizer and wise students is the first goal of university education to confront the changing society in this age of multiple information explosion ( 3 ).

Critical thinking is a type of high-level thinking skills used by students, i.e. they use personal perspectives and approaches rather than simple acceptance without evaluating the others' judgments, attitudes, and information ( 4 ). The central core of critical thinking is cognitive skills such as interpretation, analysis, evaluation, inference, explanation, and self-regulation.

Critical thinking in the field of medical sciences is a kind of cognitive activity for understanding and evaluating the phenomena based on reasoning and analysing ( 5 - 6 ). Having a critical thinking skill for a physician helps him make the right clinical decision and provide the best care in the patient care process ( 7 - 8 ). The ability to solve a problem at the patient's bedside is valuable in the health process.

Designing the curricula can reflect the important belief in medical students that they should learn these experiences not only to maximize their potential, but also use it as a general skill in classrooms, and conduct this vital issue to the other areas, their other life aspects, and future career ( 9 , 10 ). With this in mind, the importance of the students' curriculum in fostering the students' critical thinking becomes apparent.

Therefore, the institution of education in academic education must carry out its mission to review the goals, content and educational materials, methods of teaching-learning, and the evaluation system and everything related to the curriculum. It should be noticed that the surface change will not be responsive to the revision of the curriculum and that fundamental and logical changes in all curriculum processes are essential ( 11 , 12 ).

The university education course is one of the most critical training courses in every person's life. As the period of school education transition, and objective thinking is the entry into the abstract and adolescent thinking that comes with entering the job market and assuming significant responsibilities in life ( 5 ). It should be stated that people studying critical thinking skills at the university are always looking for reasons and evaluating them in real life and resisting misleading prejudices ( 13 ). Therefore, if students engage in critical thinking skills and critical thinking values are developed in them, social benefits will have to be obtained that will be so huge ( 14 - 15 ).

Amini and Fazli Nejad (2000) reviewed the critical thinking skills of the students of the general practitioners of the medical school of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences; the results of this study showed that students were weak in using critical thinking skills ( 16 ).

Mc Grace's study (2003) showed that the mean scores of critical thinking skills of medical students are increasing from year 1 to 4 (except the third year) ( 17 ). The results of Paul's (2014) Delphi study showed that the curriculum should be designed in such a way as to enhance critical thinking and make it possible to evaluate it. Sufficient time needs to be allocated to assess critical thinking ( 18 ).

Agnesno and Marie (2005) in a study criticized barriers to critical thinking, such as lack of faculty knowledge, use of teaching and assessment methods that do not facilitate the critical thinking of the learners, negative attitudes of faculty members towards change and their resistance to change, inappropriate selection process and poor educational backgrounds that do not facilitate the students' critical thinking, insufficient socialization, culture, and inadequacies of education ( 19 ).

Recently, given the dramatic changes in the students' curriculum, especially the volume of courses and the need to integrate medical courses, the attention of the academic education system to curriculum revisions has been criticized. On the other hand, given the integrated complexity of critical thinking, the importance of revising the curriculum becomes more critical. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the barriers of critical thinking in the medical school curriculum from the viewpoints of medical education experts. Perhaps, the qualitative recognition of these barriers in the curriculum has made it possible to redefine it to develop critical thinking in medical students and its importance in their future lives and careers.

This is a qualitative study aiming to explain the barriers of critical thinking in the medical school curriculum. In this study, using the qualitative research approach, critical thinking barriers in the medical school curriculum were explained from the viewpoint of medical education experts of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. In this section, semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data.

The research context was affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, and clinical and basic sciences groups. These environments provided access to qualified teachers. In this study, participants were selected from the Faculty of Medicine in the departments of Basic and Clinical Sciences, and faculty members of the Department of Medical Education and five medical students were selected by purposive sampling method. The sampling was continued until the previous information was repeated, and the content or new nature of the participants were not extracted.

Inclusion criteria were the participants’willingness to participate in the study and express their views, opinions and wealth of information, and teachers with more than five years of teaching experience in the university regarding the concept under the study. 

Before collecting the data, the researcher provided explanations about the goals, process and conditions of the interview. The data were then extracted using semi-structured interviews with open non-led questions and collected using a few guide questions. The interviews were started with general questions such as “What do you mean by critical thinking?”, “Have you experienced critical thinking in the curriculum?” and "How did you incorporate critical thinking into the curriculum?", Or "What are facilitators or inhibitors of critical thinking in medical students' curriculum? Explain it. Interviews continued based on the responses of contributors and with the help of exploratory questions, such as "Explain more. What is your example?, or What do you mean? ". Subsequent questions were based on initial responses of individuals or analysis of previous interviews. The duration of each interview was about 30 to 45 minutes, considering the faculty members' time. Interviews continued until data saturation, and sufficient information was received. After the participants' agreement interview was done in a relaxed and comfortable environment. All interviews were digitally recorded and verbatim word by word. Data analysis was carried out simultaneously with data collection. The simultaneous analysis of the interviews provided the main people with access to further interviews, resulting in more valuable information.

In the present study, to analyze the data obtained from interviews, we used a qualitative content analysis approach in the conventional way ( 20 ). The analytical unit was firstly determined by rewriting the interviews right after each section. Data analysis began by repeated reading of interviews, so that the researcher obtained an overview of the concept. Subsequently, based on the descriptions of the participants, semantic units containing meaningful sentences and words were identified and analyzed. In this way, the order of raw codes was extracted based on the nature of the data.

Continuously, the process of reduction and compression of semantic units was done. Thus, each semantic unit was named and conceptualized in terms of its implications. Then, the same necessary codes were merged and organized and categorized into the first classes.

We tried to group the codes that are more similar to each other in the same categories. In other words, the codes categorized within the classes were homogeneous and heterogeneous with other classes. Then, the primary classes were merged based on the relationship between them, and the main classes were formed. In the final stage, the researcher tried to discover the central themes by comparing and revisiting the classes and subclasses. At this stage, by integrating the same main classes, the content of the barriers to critical thinking was derived from the curriculum of medical students.

Strobert and Carpenter (2011) have proposed four criteria of validity or reliability, transferability, and verifiability for evaluating and validating data in qualitative research that have been used in this research ( 21 ).

Trustworthiness

In the end, the extracted themes were presented to the participants (member check) and it was found that some changes were needed. The themes were also provided by one of the qualified qualitative experts who tried to present all the opinions of the experts in conveying the concepts to the audience (peer check).

In this part of the study, the findings of the research are presented in order to explain and identify the barriers of critical thinking in the medical school curriculum by content analysis method. In general, the analysis of the interviews in this study was that during the data comparison process, 47 codes were initially extracted from the interviews, which were subdivided into nine main categories after data analysis and integration. Finally, from the clean codes, 14 subcategories, 8 main classes, 2 themes (socio-cultural conditions and traditional and unchanging system of education) were formed. Table 1 shows the themes, categories, and subcategories.

Subjects, main categories, and subcategories extracted from the study

A) Socio-cultural conditions

Providing the right educational and cultural conditions that separate the individual from school education and provide rapid and widespread access to the community and labor market in a college education course is useful in fostering a critical personality. . Given the importance of this topic, social-cultural conditions were the first themes extracted from the qualitative data analysis in this study. The theme consists of three main categories: "resistance to critical society," "tension," and personality factors, which are described below in each of the main categories and subcategories of this theme.

1. Resistance to the critical community: Based on the experiences of the study participants, resistance to society and belief in the superiority of collective thinking over independent thinking as the first significant category were the two subcategories of "linear thinking-intellectual dogmatism" and "systemic obedience."

1-1. The Linear Thinking-Intellectual Dogmatism

Based on the concept of this subcategory, the participants in this study acknowledged that in the current situation, some linear thinking prevails, according to which, without sufficient knowledge of the community's need for criticism, medical schools only train students in a parrot-like and linear fashion.

One contributor commented on positive support for critical thinking:

"When we train the learner with traditional methods, like lectures, and do not use collaborative educational methods and class discussions, the focus and accuracy will be reduced, and the quality of education will also be affected."  (Professor-Contributor No. 8).

The same participant said:

"... there are many students, and it is not easy to control them in the collaborative space and the discussion in the class; on the other hand, the increase in the volume of the course contents and the need to teach all the concepts in the classroom does not provide the opportunity for participatory teaching; therefore, there is not enough opportunity to interact or educate. "  (Professor-Contributor No. 8).

An increase in the volume of the course content, a large amount of documentation in the curriculum, unbalanced workload, and the need to maintain the conditions and get used to implementing traditional training in the classroom are the items participants referred to in expressing their experiences in examining the causes of linear thinking.

1.2. Obedience in the system

Submissiveness in the system is the second main category, and this means that obedient thinking is the product of linear thinking. Contributors mentioned the critical role of obedience, stereotyping, and non-positive mental flexibility in the learning system of learners. One of the participants said:

"The current educational system of the university directs the learner to follow a routine and uniform process and expects them to take a clear and coherent framework. In this atmosphere, the student moves toward a kind of stereotype and cliché. " (Participant No. 3).

One of the contributors believed in the students' desire for traditional education and use of simple mental stereotypes rather than using specific solutions and says:

"Students are interested in temporary and common solutions because of their past education during school time; they are reluctant to participate in class discussions and find creative solutions to the problems."  (Professor- Contributor No. 4).

Another participant believed that:

"Given that the professor has provided space for collaborative learning, in most cases, mental prejudice and lack of critical thinking of learners into specific ideologies and beliefs and mental stereotypes on a particular issue prevent the use of critical thinking skills and the emergence of creative solutions in the classroom." (Professor- Participant No. 12).

2. Intellectual tension

Intellectual stress is the second major category of socio-cultural conditions based on the participants' experiences, consisting of three subcategories of "anxiety, stress and fatigue," "curriculum overload," and "mental messiness." 

2.1. Anxiety, stress, and fatigue

Anxiety, stress, and fatigue were one of the aspects of distracting factors that triggered specific social conditions and factors such as war and sanctions, and ultimately prevented critical focus and thinking on the issues.

One of the participants stated his experiences on stress and exhaustion of learners in the educational environment:

"Sometimes in the classroom I find that some students do not have enough focus on lessons because of fatigue, and sometimes they take a nap in the classroom; stress makes them sick, perhaps due to the educational method, which has taken the opportunity of students to participate and think. "  (Professor- Participant No. 1).

2.2. Curriculum Overload

Providing enough space and time to think about the subject and participate in different topics that were experienced by most of the participants can be useful in enhancing critical thinking skills.

In this regard, one of the participants believed that:

"Due to the compactness of the curriculum of the basic sciences of students, there is no opportunity to present the concepts collaboratively, and they must quickly teach the subject, which removes the atmosphere of thinking and discussing from students." (Student- Participant No. 3).

Also, another participant believed that:

"A large amount of course content in the basic sciences causes the dispersion and confusion of students and takes the opportunity to discuss and think about different concepts from the students."  (Student- Participant No. 6).

2.3. Not-Organized Thinking

Most students expressed distraction, slackness, and lack of mental focus on various subject areas in their experiences, which reduced or neglected the use of critical thinking skills.

"Some participants at the time of entering the university do not have any specific plans of their future, and they are also confused, unobtrusive, and wacky in the classroom, and they usually go from branch to branch."  (Professor-Participant No. 5).

The other participant noted that:

"The confusion and distraction of learners during the education period and the lack of focus on the concepts of learning may prevent the acquisition of new information."  (Student-Participant No. 14).

Another participant in her experience stated that:

"Many entrance exam counselors advise the learners to endure the hardships of studying for a course that will make them more comfortable and free after passing the exam, which will confuse the learners."  (Student-Participant No. 15).

 Most learners in high-level mental situations often think of routines and familiar affairs, which is caused by the entrance exam thoughts leading to lack of attention to innovative and new options. This is due to brain dispersion ?? and slackness and, on the other hand, to thinking in a particular mental context that prevents a person from thinking and creative solutions.

3. Personality characteristics

Faculty members believe that increasing self-confidence is one of the essential needs of all people, especially students. We usually get the most out of those who have high self-esteem because these people have characteristics which make loving people and are often more admired. These people cause classroom dynamics, challenge different issues and opinions, and support their ideas in various topics and provide them with acceptable collective arguments. The existence of such learners is necessary for every educational environment. This theme consists of three categories: "lack of self-esteem," "lack of motivation," and "lack of curiosity in the search for information."

3.1. Lack of confidence

Based on the experiences of the participants, one of the characteristics of the learner's personality that is effective in strengthening critical thinking is self-confidence.

One of the participants believed that:

"Learners who have higher levels of self-esteem in the learning environment and lessons of discussion use critical thinking in decision making and solving different issues, and do not retreat from class positions in class discussions and debates. They have various reasons for their answers, which make a significant contribution to classroom dynamics. " (Student-Participant No. 12).

In this regard, one other participant also said:

"One of the significant barriers to developing critical thinking is the very nature of personal thinking processes. Individuals with high self-esteem seek information and exchange their thoughts in the classroom, and this results in classroom dynamics and better education and higher quality for all learners. " (Professor-Participant No. 4).

The findings suggest that learners with high self-esteem are more successful than their classmates. In other words, learners with a higher level of self-esteem have a better job and a better position than the others and achieve more success in society. This is why increasing self-esteem is one of the essential steps in the success of critical thinking in learners.

3.2. Lack of motivation

Participants' experiences confirm that lack of risk-taking, low self-esteem, and lack of motivation to risk are the primary barriers to critical thinking in learners.

One of the participants stated that:

"Teaching critical thinking is useless to learners who do not have the incentive to use critical thinking in the classroom." (Professor-Participant No. 3).

The participant adds that:

"Learners in the classroom have to work together with faculty members and other learners to analyze issues and topics and find the right solutions actively. To achieve this educational success, the learners should have sufficient motivation as a prerequisite. This motivation can be enhanced with various rewards such as class support and encouragement and feedback, and even so, to say, it can motivate learners to become more risk-averse. " (Professor-Participant No. 4)

3.3. Curiosity in search of information

Participants have experienced that curiosity is the key to developing learning intelligence, and it is a personality trait of some people. Having this feature strengthens critical thinking skills in classroom debates and topics.

“The faculty members must allocate more time for negotiation and show critical thinking while they are teaching. They should also use methods to raise the students’ curiosity.” (Professor- Participant No. 9).

Having some personality traits such as self-confidence, curiosity, flexibility, and creativity, willingness to think is useful in developing critical thinking.

B) The traditional and unchanging system of education

According to the participants and their experiences, the traditional and unchanging system is hard to change, and it doesn't accept any innovation. Believing in this method of passive teaching and learning is a common practice in many academic educational settings. In recent years, considering the positive effects of modern teaching and their acceptance in academic settings, the use of modern teaching methods has been considered that can provide a space for the use of critical thinking skills. The five main categories included "lack of understanding of the community needs for criticism," "dominance of the traditional teaching model," "lack of experts in critical thinking," "ineffective evaluation," and "the difficulty of critical thinking education."

1. Lack of understanding of social needs for criticism

Based on the experiences of the participants, the role of criticism in the curriculum is unclear, and the need for criticism seems urgent. In this regard, fostering critical thinking and developing an appropriate curriculum by incorporating critical thinking concepts and skills can be very useful.

One participant believed that:

"The current curriculum concepts are usually incompatible with the needs of learners and today's society, and the need to rethink curricula is very much felt, while students need to educate themselves on critical thinking and not just accumulate much content in their minds."  (Student- Participant No. 14).

Another participant adds that:

"Teaching students to use critical thinking skills helps them to solve real-life issues and situations in their community and their career prospects, which should be specifically addressed in the curriculum."  (Professor- Participant No. 9).

"Curriculum design is fundamental considering the space for research, hypothesis and idea development in different topics and appropriate timing for learners to utilize critical skills, and it will also have an impact on the future of students' careers and community needs. " (Professor- Participant No. 2).

Critical thinking can be improved through needs assessment and curriculum development which includes essential components such as goals, content, teaching, and evaluation process to foster the learners' critical thinking to achieve creativity and academic achievement.

2. The Rule of Traditional Teaching Pattern

New ways of planning and integrating student courses based on the participants' experiences have been considered. The use of these new teaching methods provides the appropriate space for practicing and critical thinking skills in learners. However, in practice, traditional teaching patterns usually preclude the comprehensive and complete implementation of new teaching methods.

"Most teachers are interested in using traditional teaching methods, and learners have become accustomed to these methods, and they are more than happy to be provided with written content and only memorize the content. " (Professor- Participant No. 10).

Another participant added that:

"Students usually fail to think multidimensional in a variety of subjects around the classroom, and they usually continue one-dimensionally and just memorize the lesson content and avoid participating in different topics or thinking about different subjects."  (Student- Participant No. 16).

This section notes that the use of new teaching methods can provide a space for the use of critical thinking skills.

3. Lack of critical thinking skills

Participants in their experiences stated that faculty members did not have sufficient mastery of critical thinking concepts at present. The use of highly qualified teachers in modern teaching methods and the provision of a suitable environment for student learning has made critical and questioning skills essential in the current teaching environment.

One participant added that:

"Young teachers are usually interested in new teaching methods in their teaching and provide a space for discussion, suggestions, and criticism of free and independent concepts and thinking, which is usually reduced by the work experience of the faculty members, as well as their lack of time. " (Professor- Participant No. 6).

"Some subjects are not considered by the teachers because they cannot be taught in traditional teaching methods. These topics will only be transferable to collaborative discussions or classroom discussions with learners."  (Professor- Participant No. 5).

4. Ineffective evaluation

The experiences of the participants in this study confirm that evaluation without feedback and taxonomy of critical thinking is ineffective in evaluating the learners, and providing feedback in this space is one of the most difficult challenges to which the teachers are faced. On the one hand, the provided feedback must be truthful. On the other hand, feedback should be given to learners at the right time in order to be active and efficient. Providing students with the right feedback at the right time can be one of the appropriate methods of evaluation that enhances their critical thinking skills.

One participant in providing feedback to the students mentioned that:

"Despite the fact that students enjoy receiving rewards or correcting their bugs during their teaching, university faculty members, due to their busy work and high volume of teaching materials, avoid providing a collaborative learning environment with questions and answers while teaching and appropriate evaluation and feedback and they usually finish the teaching with traditional teaching methods, which can affect the quality of teaching. " (Professor- Participant No. 11).

Good feedback always comes with positive things that help the learners feel more at ease and take more steps to succeed, advance and ask questions that require excellent thinking skills to be answered.

5. The difficulty of teaching critical thinking

Providing students with critical thinking skills in educational settings is very difficult, making it less likely to use this teaching method in the classroom.

One contributor believed that:

"Due to the size of the curriculum and the need to train all the resources, teaching traditionally seems more appropriate because taking classes in a new way of teaching will waste the time and not transfer all the subjects to the students."  (Participant No. 6).

"Holding the classroom in new ways is time-consuming and difficult, and the trainees usually do not make effective use of the available space, so the teaching time is spent on unnecessary discussions instead of transferring lesson concepts that will not do better for students than wasting class time."  (Participant No. 7).

It is necessary to develop critical thinking for a learner, due to the increased amount of information, judgment and decision making, and the improvement of the individual and professional life, ( 22 ). Analyzing the data showed that the two themes of cultural-social conditions and the unchanging traditional system are the main barriers of critical thinking in the medical school curriculum.

Cultural-social conditions constituted the first key infrastructure of critical thinking barriers for medical students. The findings of the present study showed that lack of support for independent and critical thinking was one of the most critical issues that most participants mentioned. Rezaei and Haqqani (2015) have studied the causes of resistance to change; they considered the lack of participation of learners in classroom education and values and the shortage of support for creative thinking as one of the most important reasons for resisting changes. What is more, he believes that in order to implement the change successfully, we need to find appropriate solutions to overcome these causes ( 23 ). The results of this study are consistent with those of the present research.

On the other hand, submissiveness in the system is another aspect of this dimension, which is incompatible with the results of the research by Graham (1991) ( 24 ). He has concluded that older people, especially if they are single, look at obedience superficially, and try to solve the issues more creatively and discuss different issues more critically. This result is also consistent with those of the Kalantari and Babayan’s (2014) study ( 25 ).

According to the findings of this study, distortion factors are one of the other themes of this research. Anxiety, stress, and fatigue were the most important aspects of this research. Najafian Zadeh et al. (2014) have concluded that the critical thinking of the students in our country is weak, and one of the causative factors was anxiety and fatigue in students, which was due to the high volume of the courses ( 26 ). Since critical thinking is not considered as an essential dimension in the teaching of students during the educational process by the educational system, and critical thinking is a complex mental process that provides flexibility, proper response, correct predictions and rational decision making of the students in different situations, it is necessary to pay attention to this issue by improving educational patterns, which is consistent with the results of this study.

The lack of enough time to think was another obstacle to this dimension. In this regard, Sharifi et al. (2016) concluded that the use of the assistants of critical thinking capabilities was weak, and this was because they are so busy and do not have enough time during the study that is in the same line with the results of this study ( 27 ).

Intellectual stress is the last theme of this study, the most important aspects of which were anxiety, stress and fatigue, an overload of curriculum, and intellectual fatigue. 

In the research by Durova et al., ( 28 ) participation learning was also a method of developing critical thinking; also, discussing and revealing new ideas and evaluating other people's ideas for developing critical thinking and problem-solving skills and participatory learning were usd. By creating learning management and meaningful experiences and stimulating the learners to think, faculty members have a facilitating role in this issue.

The last subject of this research was the personality factors that included issues such as lack of self-esteem, lack of motivation, and curiosity in seeking information that was attractive to the participants. In this regard, the results showed that, in the viewpoint of the experts participating in this study, one of the most effective barriers to the use of critical thinking is personality barriers. The investigation of numerous texts has shown that having some personality traits such as self-esteem, curiosity, flexibility, creativity, and willingness to think is valid in critical thinking skills ( 13 ). Therefore, the absence of any of these personality traits in individuals can be a barrier to critical thinking. Some scholars believe that critical thinking embraces something beyond the aspects of intelligence and individual performance, and other factors such as emotional and personality traits also affect it ( 14 ). As a result, it seems that before entering the clinical field, it is necessary to go through psychological courses to improve individual characteristics and, thus, increase the skill in critical thinking because the goal of teaching critical thinking is to educate people who are far from personal prejudice and who are careful about their work ( 13 ).

In the personality aspect of the students, "lack of self-esteem" was considered by the experts participating in this study to be the most crucial factor in not using critical thinking, which could cause passive confrontation with events and referral to the authorities. Therefore, along with nursing lessons and in-service training, it is necessary to use strategies for increasing the self-esteem of the nurses and students.

The second theme of this study was the traditional and unchanging system of education which consisted of five categories: "lack of understanding of the need for critical society," "rule of traditional teaching," "lack of experties in critical thinking," "ineffective evaluation" and "difficulty in teaching critical thinking." As noted, the lack of understanding of the community's needs for criticism was one of the main categories of the subject, and it addressed issues such as the lack of attention of curriculum planners to critical thinking and high-level skills in the curriculum. In this regard, researches have been done to confirm the impact of goals on the content, teaching methods, and evaluation as curriculum elements in fostering critical thinking. Based on Vagra’s research (2007) in Lipton School, which teaches in-service teachers, consideration of structure, theory process, this is an essential indicator that critical thinking skills can be achieved through the selection of goals, content, and processes and methods ( 29 ).

Another aspect of this theme was the ineffectiveness of the traditional model of teaching and evaluation. In other words, enhancing motivation to use thinking as the key to improving the quality of students' critical thinking is typically overlooked in the formal curriculum of students; therefore, one of the most effective measures in this regard is to improve the attitude aspects of critical thinking, considering the hidden curriculum function in higher education. In this regard, the researches by Alipour ( 2 ), Sharifi ( 26 ), and Shariatmadari ( 30 ), have neglected development of questioning, analysis, composition and evaluation skills and judgment in learner curriculum, and the lack of attention to the hidden curriculum has been considered one of the significant barriers to developing critical thinking skills. Research by Talebzadeh et al. (2009) has also considered attention to hidden curriculum elements as one of the influential factors in fostering critical thinking ( 29 - 31 ).

Lack of experts in critical thinking was one of the other main categories of this theme. In this regard, Cook and Mull's research points to learning-based approaches to promoting critical thinking, problem-solving, active participation, identification of learning needs, creative discussion, peer learning, and the integration and production of knowledge that make learning realistic, entertaining and attractive.

The difficulty of teaching critical thinking was the last category of this theme; in this regard, research by Drewa et al. found it necessary to discuss and reveal new ideas and evaluate the ideas of others to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills and collaborative learning, and young teachers have been identified as facilitators or leaders of learning and creators of meaningful experiences that stimulate the learners to think.

According to the results of research done in this dimension, most educational systems tend to have a fixed curriculum content in the curriculum without the use of new, collaborative learning methods in learners, all of which discouraging the students from using critical thinking skills.

Application of findings

The findings of this study provide an overview of the critical thinking situation in the academic environment and the barriers of utilizing critical skills in medical students that can be a practical step in revising and designing curricula with a more comprehensive view of new educational practices, especially concepts and critical thinking skills.

Study limitation

In this study, access to experienced professors in this field was difficult nationwide. However, we sought to use any source of information, scholars, and students in this field.

The educational system Our educational system needs a development which relegates the education from extreme reliance on old knowledge; brings prospects into thinking, intellection, research, creativity, and innovation;blossoms the students’ talents; deepens the critical spirit of critique and review; boosts the self-esteem and self-confidence; and promotes the educational, biological, technical and professional skills in the young generation. Such a change will be possible by changes in the attitudes of the faculty members, planners and curriculum in formulating strategic plans for goals and content, and also teaching and evaluation methods for curricula and attention to the importance and necessity of developing critical thinking at different levels of education. 

In general, the cultural and social conditions of the traditional and unchanging system of education were two significant barriers to the implementation of the critical thinking program, which seems to overcome these barriers to provide critical thinking concepts and skills in medical students' curricula. Therefore, it can be concluded that the reform of the educational system in educational and clinical environments is one of the strategies for increasing the use of critical thinking.

Academic faculty members can help to improve the critical thinking skills of their learners by creating an atmosphere of inquiry and an appropriate platform for negotiation. Establishing workshops and meetings for familiarizing and enhancing search skills, questioning techniques, and evaluating the value and content of information, as well as holding workshops, can reduce the significant barriers to critical thinking development with effective use of information by students. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it is recommended that an effort should be made to transform the classroom environment into the interface between learners and faculty members through the elimination of the existing barriers.

Conflict of Interests: None Declared.

Critical thinking definition

Critical thinking, as described by Oxford Languages, is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.

Active and skillful approach, evaluation, assessment, synthesis, and/or evaluation of information obtained from, or made by, observation, knowledge, reflection, acumen or conversation, as a guide to belief and action, requires the critical thinking process, which is why it's often used in education and academics.

Some even may view it as a backbone of modern thought.

However, it's a skill, and skills must be trained and encouraged to be used at its full potential.

People turn up to various approaches in improving their critical thinking, like:

• Developing technical and problem-solving skills
• Engaging in more active listening
• Actively questioning their assumptions and beliefs
• Seeking out more diversity of thought
• Opening up their curiosity in an intellectual way etc.

Is critical thinking useful in writing?

Critical thinking can help in planning your paper and making it more concise, but it's not obvious at first. We carefully pinpointed some the questions you should ask yourself when boosting critical thinking in writing:

• What information should be included?
• Which information resources should the author look to?
• What degree of technical knowledge should the report assume its audience has?
• What is the most effective way to show information?
• How should the report be organized?
• How should it be designed?
• What tone and level of language difficulty should the document have?

Usage of critical thinking comes down not only to the outline of your paper, it also begs the question: How can we use critical thinking solving problems in our writing's topic?

Let's say, you have a Powerpoint on how critical thinking can reduce poverty in the United States. You'll primarily have to define critical thinking for the viewers, as well as use a lot of critical thinking questions and synonyms to get them to be familiar with your methods and start the thinking process behind it.

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12 common barriers to critical thinking (and how to overcome them).

As you know, critical thinking is a vital skill necessary for success in life and work. Unfortunately,  barriers to critical thinking  can hinder a person’s ability. This piece will discuss some of the most common  internal and external barriers to critical thinking  and what you should do if one of them hinders your ability to think critically.

Table of Contents

Critical Thinking Challenges

You already know that  critical thinking  is the process of analyzing and evaluating a situation or person so that you can make a sound judgment. You normally use the judgment you derive from your critical thinking process to make crucial decisions, and the choices you make affect you in workplaces, relationships, and life’s goals and achievements.

Several  barriers to critical thinking  can cause you to skew your judgment. This could happen even if you have a large amount of data and information to the contrary. The result might be that you make a poor or ineffective decision instead of a choice that could improve your life quality. These are some of the top obstacles that hinder and distort the ability to think critically:

1. Using Emotions Instead of Logic

Failing to remove one’s emotions from a critical thinking analysis is one of the hugest barriers to the process. People make these mistakes mainly in the relationship realm when choosing partners based on how they “make them feel” instead of the information collected.

The correct way to decide about a relationship is to use all facts, data, opinions, and situations to make a final judgment call. More times than not, individuals use their hearts instead of their minds.

Emotions can hinder critical thinking in the employment realm as well. One example is an employee who reacts negatively to a business decision, change, or process without gathering more information. The relationship between that person and the employer could become severed by her  lack of critical thinking  instead of being salvaged by further investigations and rational reactions.

2. Personal Biases

Personal biases can come from past negative experiences, skewed teachings, and peer pressure. They create a huge obstacle in critical thinking because they overshadow open-mindedness and fairness.

One example is failing to hire someone because of a specific race, age, religious preference, or perceived attitude. The hiring person circumvents using critical thinking by accepting his or her biases as truth. Thus, the entire processes of information gathering and objective analysis get lost in the mix.

3. Obstinance

Stubbornness almost always ruins the critical thinking procedure. Sometimes, people get so wrapped up in being right that they fail to look at the big picture. Big-picture thinking is a large part of critical thinking; without it, all judgments and choices are rash and incomplete.

4. Unbelief

It’s difficult for a person to do something he or she doesn’t believe in. It’s also challenging to engage in something that seems complex. Many people don’t think critically because they believe they must be scholarly to do so. The truth is that  anyone  can think critically by practicing the following steps:

• 1. Gather as much data as possible.
• 2. Have an opinion, but be open to changing it.
• 3. Understand that assumptions are not the truth, and opinions are not facts.
• 4. Think about the scenario, person, or problem from different angles.
• 5. Evaluate all the information thoroughly.
• 6. Ask simple, precise, and abundant questions.
• 7. Take time to observe.
• 8. Don’t be afraid to spend time on the problem or issue.
• 9. Ask for input or additional information.
• 10. Make it make sense.

5. Fear of Failure or Change

Fear of change and failure often hinders a person’s critical thinking process because it doesn’t allow thinking outside the box. Sometimes, the most efficient way to resolve a problem is to be open to changing something.

That change might be a different way of doing something, a relationship termination, or a shift of positions at a workplace. Fear can block out all possible scenarios in the critical thinking cycle. The result is often one-dimensional thinking, tunnel vision, or proverbial head-banging.

6. Egocentric Thinking

Egocentric thinking is also one of the main barriers to critical thinking. It occurs when a person examines everything through a “me” lens. Evaluating something properly requires an individual to understand and consider other people’s perspectives, plights, goals, input, etc.

7. Assumptions

Assumptions are one of the negative  factors that affect critical thinking . They are detrimental to the process because they cause distortions and misguided judgments. When using assumptions, an individual could unknowingly insert an invalid prejudgment into a stage of the thought process and sway the final decision.

It’s never wise to assume anything about a person, entity, or situation because it could be 100 percent wrong. The correct way to deal with assumptions is to store them in a separate thought category of possibilities and then use the data and other evidence to validate or nullify them.

XYZ  might  be why ABC happened, but there isn’t enough information or data to conclude it. The same concept is true for the rest of the possibilities, and thus, it’s necessary to research and analyze the facts before accepting them as truths.

8. Group Thinking

Group thinking is another one of the  barriers to critical thinking  that can block sound decisions and muddy judgments. It’s similar to peer pressure, where the person takes on the viewpoint of the people around him or her to avoid seeming “different.”

This barrier is dangerous because it affects how some people think about right and wrong. It’s most prevalent among teens. One example is the “everybody’s doing it (drugs, bullying), so I should too” mindset.

Unfortunately, this barrier can sometimes spill over into the workplace and darken the environment when workers can’t think for themselves. Workers may end up breaking policies, engaging in negative behavior, or harassing the workers who don’t conform.

Group thinking can also skew someone’s opinion of another person before the individual gets a chance to collect facts and evaluate the person for himself. You’ve probably heard of smear campaigns. They work so well against targets because the parties involved don’t use the critical thinking process at all.

9. Impulsivity

Impulsivity is the tendency to do things without thinking, and it’s a bona fide critical thinking killer. It skips right by  every  step in the critical thinking process and goes directly to what feels good in the moment.

Alleviating the habit takes practice and dedication. The first step is to set time aside when impulsive urges come to think about all aspects of the situation. It may take an impulsive person a while to develop a good critical thinking strategy, but it can work with time.

10. Not Knowing What’s Fact and Opinion

Critical thinking requires the thinker to know the difference between facts and opinions. Opinions are statements based on other people’s evaluative processes, and those processes may not be critical or analytical. Facts are an unemotional and unbiased piece of data that one can verify. Statistics and governmental texts are examples.

11. Having a Highly Competitive Nature

A “winning” mindset can overshadow the fair and objective evaluation of a problem, task, or person and undermine critical thinking. People who  think competitively  could lose sight of what’s right and wrong to meet a selfish goal that way.

12. Basing Statements on Popularity

This problem is prevalent in today’s world. Many people will accept anything a celebrity, political figure, or popular person says as gospel, but discredit or discount other people’s input. An adept critical thinker knows how to separate  what’s  being said from  who  said it and perform the necessary verification steps.

• The Ultimate Guide To Critical Thinking
• Is Critical Thinking A Soft Skill Or Hard Skill?
• How To Improve Critical Thinking Skills At Work And Make Better Decisions
• 5 Creative and Critical Thinking Examples In Workplace
• 10 Best Books On Critical Thinking And Problem Solving
• 12 Critical Thinking Interview Questions and Scenarios With Sample Answers
• How To Promote Critical Thinking In The Workplace

How To Overcome Barriers in Critical Thinking

If you can identify any of the above-mentioned  barriers , your critical thinking may be flawed. These are some tips for overcoming such barriers:

1. Know your flaws.

The very first step toward improving anything is to know and admit your flaws. If you can do that, you are halfway to using better critical thinking strategies.

2. Park your emotions.

Use logic, not emotion, when you are evaluating something to form a judgment. It’s not the time to think with your heart.

3. Be mindful of others.

Try to put yourself in other people’s shoes to understand their stance. A little empathy goes a long way.

4. Avoid black-and-white thinking.

Understand that there’s always more than one way to solve a problem or achieve a goal. Additionally, consider that not every person is all bad or all good.

5. Dare to be unpopular.

Avoid making decisions to please other people. Instead, evaluate the full lot of information and make the decision you feel is best.

6. Don’t assign unjustified merit.

Don’t assume someone is telling the truth or giving you more accurate information because of his or her name or status. Evaluate  all  people’s input equally.

7. Avoid judging others.

Try to keep biases and prejudices out of your decision-making processes. That will make them fair and just.

8. Be patient with yourself.

Take all the days you need to pick apart a situation or problem and resolve it. Don’t rush to make hasty decisions.

9. Accept different points of view.

Not everyone will agree with you or tell you what you want to hear.

10. Embrace change.

Don’t ever be afraid of changing something or trying something new. Thinking outside the box is an integral part of the critical thinking process.

Now you know the answers to the question,  “What are the challenges of critical thinking?”  Use the information about the  barriers to critical thinking  to improve your critical thinking process and make healthier and more beneficial decisions for everyone.

Critical Thinking vs Problem Solving: What’s the Difference?

• Is Critical Thinking Overrated?  Disadvantages Of Critical Thinking
• 25 In-Demand Jobs That Require Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills
• Brainstorming: Techniques Used To Boost Critical Thinking and Creativity
• 11 Principles Of Critical Thinking  

Jenny Palmer

Founder of Eggcellentwork.com. With over 20 years of experience in HR and various roles in corporate world, Jenny shares tips and advice to help professionals advance in their careers. Her blog is a go-to resource for anyone looking to improve their skills, land their dream job, or make a career change.

Further Reading...

Brainstorming: Techniques Used To Boost Critical Thinking and Creativity  

How To Become a Polymath in 4 Steps  

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12 critical thinking interview questions and scenarios with sample answers  .

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1 Barriers to critical thinking

First, let’s briefly examine some barriers to critical thinking.

Take another look at the visual summary below on critical and analytical thinking, which was introduced at the end of Session 3. Note the warning sign next to the ‘black pit’ to the lower right of this figure.

This figure shows a visual summary of critical and analytical thinking. It includes phrases such as ‘objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement’, ‘abilities’, ‘dispositions’ and ‘questioning’.

We have provided you with a larger version of this image in PDF format [ Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. ( Hide tip ) ] .

What are the common pitfalls or barriers to thinking critically and analytically? Some of these were highlighted in the visual summary, and include:

• Misunderstanding . This can arise due to language or cultural differences, a lack of awareness of the ‘processes’ involved, or a misunderstanding that critical thinking means making ‘negative’ comments (as discussed in Sessions 3 and 4).
• Reluctance to critique the ‘norm’ or experts in a field and consider alternative views (feeling out of your ‘comfort zone’ or fearful of being wrong).
• Lack of detailed knowledge . Superficial knowledge (not having read deeply enough around the subject).
• Wanting to know the answers without having to ask questions .

Why do you think being aware of these potential pitfalls is important?

As a critical and reflective thinker, you will need to be aware of the barriers, acknowledge the challenges they may present, and overcome these as best you can. This starts with an understanding of expectations. Some students feel anxious about questioning the work of experts. Critical thinking does not mean that you are challenging someone’s work or telling them that they are wrong, but encourages a deeper understanding, a consideration of alternative views, and engagement in thought, discourse or research that informs your independent judgement. At postgraduate level you will also need to read widely around a subject in order to engage effectively with critical and analytical thinking, and to ask questions: there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers, only supported arguments. This is at the heart of postgraduate study.

Critical thinking encourages you to be constructive, by considering the strengths and weaknesses of a claim and differing sides to an argument. It helps you to clarify points, encourages deeper thought, and allows you to determine whether information that you come across is accurate and reliable. This helps you to form your own judgement, and drives research forward.

People can find it difficult to think critically, irrespective of their education or intellectual ability. The key to understanding critical thinking is not only knowing and making sure that you understand the process, but also being able to put this into practice by applying your knowledge.

Critical and reflective thinking are complex and lifelong skills that you continue to develop as part of your personal and professional growth. In your everyday life, you may also come across those who do not exercise critical thinking, and this might impact on decisions that affect you. It is important to recognise this, and to use critical and reflective thinking to ensure that your own view is informed by reasoned judgement, supported by evidence.

Take another look at the visual summary. You will see two aspects to critical thinking: one focusing on the disposition of the person engaged in critical and reflective thinking, and the other concerning their abilities. Let’s focus here on dispositions. At a personal level, barriers to critical thinking can arise through:

• an over-reliance on feelings or emotions
• self-centred or societal/cultural-centred thinking (conformism, dogma and peer-pressure)
• unconscious bias, or selective perception
• an inability to be receptive to an idea or point of view that differs from your own (close-mindedness)
• unwarranted assumptions or lack of relevant information
• fear of being wrong (anxious about being taken out of your ‘comfort zone’)
• poor communication skills or apathy
• lack of personal honesty.

Be aware that thinking critically is not simply adhering to a formula. For example, reflect on the following questions:

• How can you communicate with those who do not actively engage with critical thinking and are unwilling to engage in a meaningful dialogue?
• How would you react or respond when you experience a lack of critical thinking in the media, amongst your own family members, colleagues at work, or on your course?

Barriers to Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is like a superpower in our brains, helping us make smart choices and solve tricky problems. But sometimes, invisible obstacles can trip us up, making it tough to think clearly and wisely. Imagine you’re on a treasure hunt, but there are hidden traps along the way – these are the barriers to critical thinking. 

Barriers to critical thinking include cognitive biases and emotional reasoning, hindering objective analysis and problem-solving. Overreliance on tradition and social conditioning can also impede open-mindedness and rational inquiry.

They can be sneaky, like when we only listen to ideas that we already like or when we’re too scared to try new things because we might make mistakes. Sometimes, we might find ourselves just going along with what everyone else thinks, even if, deep down, we’re not sure it’s right. It’s like trying to see through a foggy window – we know there’s more out there, but it’s hard to see clearly.

• 1.1 Egocentrism
• 1.2 Sociocentrism
• 1.3 Confirmation Bias
• 1.4 Emotional Barriers
• 1.5 Lack of Knowledge and Information Literacy
• 2.1 Developing Awareness and Mindfulness
• 2.2 Embracing Uncertainty and Change
• 2.3 Enhancing Information Analysis Skills
• 2.4 Fostering an Environment of Openness and Diversity
• 3.1 In Personal and Professional Life
• 3.2 Decision-Making and Problem-Solving
• 3.3 Strategic Thinking and Planning
• 4 Conclusion: The Path to Better Thinking

5 Barriers to Critical Thinking

Despite its importance, several barriers can hinder individuals from thinking critically. Here are five significant barriers to critical thinking:

Egocentrism

This is the tendency to see everything in relation to oneself and to prioritize one’s own opinions, needs, and views over those of others. Egocentrism can lead to a lack of objectivity, making it difficult to consider other perspectives or evaluate evidence that contradicts personal beliefs.

Sociocentrism

Similar to egocentrism but on a group level, sociocentrism involves prioritizing the norms, values, and beliefs of one’s own group (e.g., cultural, social, or familial groups) without considering wider perspectives. This can lead to groupthink, where the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome.

Confirmation Bias

This is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs or hypotheses. It leads individuals to give greater emphasis to evidence that supports their existing opinions, while disregarding or rationalizing disconfirming evidence.

Emotional Barriers

Strong emotions can cloud judgment and impact the ability to think critically. For instance, fear, anger, or frustration can influence decision-making processes and lead to impulsive reactions or decisions based on emotions rather than facts.

Lack of Knowledge and Information Literacy

To think critically, one must have a base of relevant knowledge and the ability to acquire, evaluate, and utilize information effectively. Without sufficient knowledge on a topic, it becomes challenging to assess the validity of arguments or evidence. Similarly, lacking information literacy skills can make it difficult to discern credible sources from unreliable ones.

Overcoming Barriers to Critical Thinking

Developing awareness and mindfulness.

The first step to overcoming barriers to critical thinking is to develop an awareness of these barriers. Paying attention to what’s influencing our thought processes allows us to recognize and address our biases and fears.

Embracing Uncertainty and Change

Embracing uncertainty and change is crucial in overcoming fear of failure and normalcy bias. This involves accepting that we don’t always know the answers and being open to new ways of seeing and doing things.

Enhancing Information Analysis Skills

Good critical thinking requires the ability to analyse and evaluate information effectively. This involves taking the time to analyse facts and data, considering the advantages and disadvantages of different perspectives, and developing a solution based on sound reasoning.

Fostering an Environment of Openness and Diversity

Creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable expressing their ideas and opinions is vital for overcoming groupthink. This encourages diversity of thought and promotes strategic thinking, leading to more innovative and effective solutions.

Applying Critical Thinking in Everyday Life

In personal and professional life.

Critical thinking is not just a professional skill but also a valuable tool in our personal lives. By using critical thinking in our personal and professional lives, we can make better decisions, solve problems more effectively, and improve our overall growth and development.

Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

The ability to think critically is fundamental in the decision-making process. It helps us evaluate the situation, consider different perspectives, and choose the most effective way to solve a problem.

Strategic Thinking and Planning

Strategic thinking, a soft skill closely related to critical thinking, involves planning for the future by considering various scenarios and outcomes. This type of thinking is essential for long-term success and sustainability in both personal and professional realms.

Conclusion: The Path to Better Thinking

Overcoming barriers to critical thinking may seem difficult, but it is an achievable goal. By being aware of the barriers, actively working to mitigate their effects, and continuously practicing and applying critical thinking strategies, we can enhance our thinking abilities. This not only leads to better decision-making and problem-solving but also contributes significantly to the development of a person’s character and life. Let’s strive to overcome these barriers and harness the full power of critical thinking for our personal and professional success.  

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Cognitive barriers to communication

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Mind the gap: identifying barriers to students engaging in creative practices in higher education

Journal of Work-Applied Management

ISSN : 2205-2062

Article publication date: 28 July 2020

Issue publication date: 13 October 2020

Creativity is nowadays seen as a desirable goal in higher education. In artistic disciplines, creative processes are frequently employed to assess or evaluate different students' skills. The purpose of this study is to identify potential pitfalls for students involved in artistic practices in which being creative is essential.

Design/methodology/approach

Three focus groups involving Education Faculty members from different artistic disciplines allowed for the identification of several constraints when creativity was invoked. This initial study used a quantitative approach and took place in the “Universitat de Vic” (Catalonia, Spain).

Findings suggest a correlation with existing literature and simultaneously point at some nuances that require consideration: emerging aspects embedded in creative processes that may help decrease some limiting effects that being creative can generate.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitations of this research derive from the very nature of the methodological approach. Focus group has been the single used source. Other means of collecting data, such as the analysis of programs, could be used in the future.

Originality/value

This case study, while culturally specific, offers a useful insight into the potential of further work in non-artistic disciplines but crucially across disciplines. It has tremendous value for the development of intercultural understanding in the higher education sector, specifically in terms of assessment.

• Higher education
• Creative practices

Solé, L. , Sole-Coromina, L. and Poole, S.E. (2020), "Mind the gap: identifying barriers to students engaging in creative practices in higher education", Journal of Work-Applied Management , Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 207-220. https://doi.org/10.1108/JWAM-03-2020-0017

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Lluís Solé, Laia Sole-Coromina and Simon Ellis Poole

Published in Journal of Work-Applied Management . 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

Being able to position creativity is crucial if it is to have a place within the andragogue's educational philosophy or practice. Even more so if the barriers and obstacles to teaching with and for creativity are to be lifted. It is the intention of this introduction, to discursively locate the term creativity within a Higher Education (HE) setting. It would be difficult to do this without considering the tensions that institutional education systems face, albeit in a brief manner. As such creativity necessarily should be considered in relation to innovation and tradition not as oppositional but as bearing out the tension between them. In order to delineate a working definition of creativity , this paper will draw upon a body of work by researchers of creativity and creative practices.

As art educators involved in teacher training, we have been running our courses in music education and visual arts education respectively for a few years. There is a shared understanding among faculty members of the need to promote students' access and relationship with forms and formats of art, and the need to foster these aesthetic experiences with hands-on opportunities where students can explore artefacts and artworks, and through them. Underlying this, there is the understanding that art practices, whether appraisal or artmaking, provide “a way of knowing” ( Eisner, 2012 , p. 10) that is singular and yet transferable to other fields of knowledge.

As part of our conversations on learning outcomes and teaching-learning practices, the need to share and explore assessment criteria emerged, when art-related content or processes were involved within a formal study: this took the form of a case study of teachers' and students' perceptions on creative process assessments. And yet, the emphasis on assessment which would have led us to explore our students' paths, processes and meaning they ascribe to it ( Huerta, 2019 ) found an unexpected barrier or obstacle ( Dewey, 1934/2005 ) that modified the study's trajectory: the case study became concerned with creativity as a constraint-process experience.

Regardless of the disciplinary boundaries, through the teaching of the philosophy or the methods of instruction of participating faculty members, we became concerned with creativity as experienced in an educational environment: what the perceptions of teachers and students engaged in creative processes were; in short, we became interested in how creative processes may unfold within a pedagogical event, and with the “local intensities as they form and develop in a learning encounter” ( Atkinson, 2016 , p. 2).

To identify perceptions of teachers about pitfalls and barriers, which may arise in HE, when students must develop learning activities in which creative thinking through artistic disciplines is required.

To explore ways of minimising the potential reluctance of education students when engaging with creative practices.

Creativity and art

The context of creativity as a conceptual space that artistic practices could sit within will first be considered. Conceptualisations of creativity, where academics such as Dellas and Gaier (1970) “treated creativity as if it were an individual attribute” ( Craft, 2005 , p. 134) might form suitable understandings in their field. However, they could be seen as debatably detrimental to understandings of creativity, from the perspective of a creative practitioner or artistic educator. For example, such psychological perspectives of creativity have continued to influence research and society since Torrance's (1966) first psychometric tests. The idea that it could be a cognitive characteristic that produces “eminent creativity (also called “Big-C”), which is reserved for the great” ( Kaufman and Beghetto, 2009 , p. 1), arguably disregards social and political factors.

On the contrary, Bronner (2015) , while considering the relationship between folklore and creativity notes how the psychologist Freud called for greater synthesis and collaboration between the fields of psychoanalysis and folklore. So in terms of locating a context of creativity within an educational sphere, the proposition that a major distinction be made between “‘high’ creativity, shown by the exceptional person, and ‘ordinary’ or ‘democratic’ creativity, which can be shown by everyone” ( Craft, 2001 ) is a false dichotomy. A position that appreciates creativity encompassing but not entirely made up the tension between innovation and tradition ( Poole, 2017 ), would be a useful one, given the traditions that exist within educational practices and the need to innovate them to respond to social and political change.

So while, educational psychologist Kaufman (2016) states of creativity that “we have agreed on a basic definition for more than 60 years” (p. 25), Runco, Jaeger and others would disagree given that their recent works have all been critically concerned with definitions of creativity ( Cropley and Cropley, 2008 ; Runco and Jaeger, 2012 ). Kaufman (2016) also suggests “that creativity is an activity that produces something that is both new and task-appropriate” (p. 25). The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education (NACCCE) concurred that it should be thought of as an: “imaginative activity fashioned so as to yield an outcome that is of value as well as original” ( Robinson and Craft, 1999 , p. 30). In these definitions, both new and original are key ideas, which sometimes are alternatively labelled as novel or novelty .

A definition of innovation might readily be aligned with these notions. They are themselves however ambiguous and misleading in many ways, within the context of education and now more so in the digital world, considering for example ideas of authenticity. As ideas, new and original also have a connection with globalism and capitalism, especially if used in conjunction with the other key ideas of task-appropriate , or value . The latter which is a label with quite clear connotations in research on economics and creativity; “it describes how original and valuable products and ideas depend on the current market, and more specifically on the cost and benefits of contrarianism…” ( Runco and Jaeger, 2012 , p. 92).

Aware, but wishing to avoid accusations of a domain-specific perspective, an alternative substantiation of creativity's definition is offered from which, and for which, this study develops. Providing that is, that education is read as interchangeable with creativity, education is connected with culture, process, performance and construction in the strictest of anthropological senses. And regardless of whether there is a current trend in HE at present to engage with the discourse of creativity for whatever reason, there is nonetheless an urgent need to disentangle and disenchant creativity within education; to pierce the romantic façades and arrive at the deeper reasons for those constructions. The performance of creativity has long since drifted away from its original texture and context; the praise of the original and primary has become part of a secondary system intimately connected with advertising and public relations activities, with economic and political interests. If nothing else this study demonstrates that educators wish to rescue creativity and artistic practices from such systems and to reinstill them within a different educational sphere, but they are finding barriers and obstacles that prevent them for doing so.

So, in summary, there are clear connections between certain definitions of creativity and tradition and innovation. These are played out in educational systems, expressly, around notions of the individual and their entanglement with creativity and the social world. A working definition of creativity for this study would avoid the entirely psychological, personal, market- or outcome-driven understandings of what it is to innovate; creativity would not mean an acting individual, thought of as particularly creative, creating something new, original, or of value. Creativity would instead hold meanings that were social; meanings that were connected with the everyday happenings of people. It would also expand its meaning to have a different relationship with time; to embrace connotations beyond the new and original, such as renew, restore, alter or return to.

Ways of knowing

Some of the underlying assumptions regarding the ways of knowing creative processes are: (1) through the arts, we engage in a process of inquiry that allows us to make sense of changing and unpredictable phenomena in our world/environment; (2) the arts promote individual autonomy, in that they mobilise what is subjective, in opposition to objective knowledge; as Eisner (2012) states: “the arts are means of exploring our own interior landscape” (p. 11). What is at play when making sense of an aesthetic encounter is what one has experienced, lived or known; similarly, the arts (3) favour divergent thinking: multiple responses or ways to relate art materials and practices can meet a single question or problem; (4) art practices foster critical thinking, by offering avenues to look at ourselves and our environment from diverse standpoints, and through materials and formats that present themselves as questions rather than responses; (5) aesthetic encounters appeal to our senses, mobilise effects and may lead to a more significant learning; and (6) exposure to art induces inspiration, which in turn facilitates performance on creative tasks ( An and Youn, 2018 ).

Creativity in HE

There is consensus among the educational community on the importance of creativity as an essential skill for students in HE. Some of the reasons, as argued by Jackson (2006b) are: (1) being creative is a fundamentally human characteristic, (2) creativity is integral for any discipline field of endeavour and (3) creativity is necessary in order to survive in a complex, ever-changing unpredictable world. And yet, there are diverse ways in which to approach creativity, as well as different meanings and nuances about what being creative means.

The ambiguity of the concept seems doubtless and has a strong contextual meaning: being creative means different things in different contexts and cultures ( McGoldrick, 2002 ; Oliver, 2002 ). As Boden ( 2005 , p. 75) mentions “people of a scientific cast of mind, generally define creativity in terms of novel combinations of old ideas,” while within the music field, creativity can be related with the concept of flow ( Csikszentmihalyi, 2009 ), as suggested by MacDonald et al. (2006) .

At the same time, creativity can be approached as a skill, as a process or as the mutual interaction of skill and process with an environment or a given situation. It could be considered too, as stated in the call for papers for this journal issue, democratically and collaboratively: a “space of extraordinary openness, a place of critical exchange” from where to imagine and act upon our realities ( Soja, 1996 , p. 5). This article focuses on creativity as perceived and experienced by teachers within their practice in the context of HE. Time-based aspects, such as the sense of duration of an experience, as well as the variations and the sense of “unity” that pervades the course of an experience to its fulfilment ( Dewey, 1934/2005 , p. 36), are considered too.

Self-reflective learning;

Independent learning (organising decisions for learning autonomously);

Showing curiosity and motivation;

Producing something;

Showing multi-perspective;

Reaching for original, entirely new ideas.

While this may offer a valuable indicator of behaviours and practices in actions where creativity is involved, there is too, the variability within which these practices and behaviours are lived and perceived; i.e. the “single quality that pervades” an “experience in spite of the variation of its constituent parts” ( Dewey, 1934/2005 , p. 38).

According to Kleiman (2008) , there are different approaches or conceptions about the way academics experience creativity in learning and teaching processes. Creativity can be perceived as (1) a constraint-focused experience, (2) a process-focused experience, (3) a product-focused experience, (4) a transformation-focused experience and (5) a fulfilment-focused experience. While all these perceptions seem to acknowledge the relational nature of the experience, they distil diverse and even opposed qualities of how the process of mutual adaptation ( Dewey, 1934/2005 , p. 45) manifests. In more tangible terms, for example, creativity could be perceived for some teachers as a barrier, obstacle or difficulty, which constrains the flow of actions and thoughts. Likewise, some students may be reluctant to express themselves creatively. In short, mind the gap with creativity.

Barriers to creativity

It would seem, therefore, that all that glitters is not gold. Is creativity a wolf in sheep's clothing? Some barriers or difficulties can appear when students are compelled to bring their creativity into play. Jackson (2006a) argues that the main problem with creativity in HE is the lack or absence of creativity in assessment criteria for most courses. Indeed, creativity is rarely an explicit goal of learning and assessment processes. Jackson (2006a) encourages course-designers to provide more opportunities for students to be creative through leading education in a paradigm shift where students and teacher's creativity is valued, encouraged and recognised. In general terms, and with a contextual meaning, we are clearly facing a situation in which creativity is being progressively incorporated in HE programmes as a desirable goal or ability to be enhanced.

Nevertheless, creativity could be deemed as a limiting condition or weakness for certain individuals in certain contexts. Several studies have focused on barriers to creativity in HE from different contexts ( Alencar, 2001 ; Alencar et al. , 2003 ; Kazerounian and Foley, 2007 ; Hilala et al. , 2013 ; Morais et al. , 2014a , b ). In Engineering education, the biggest barrier for creativity according to Kazerounian and Foley (2007) , for instance, is how creativity is poorly valued in opposition to the accuracy of processes involved in design. However, in Physical Education and Sport Sciences, one of the main inhibitors of creativity fostering classroom environment is the educational environment and resources and specifically the problematic translation of policy into practice, as suggested by Konstantinodou et al. ( 2015 , p. 28).

From an individual-focused perspective, Alencar (1999) developed the Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity. According to this validated instrument, limiting factors to creativity can be grouped into four categories: difficulties related to inhibition or shyness (e.g. “…I'm not prepared to express what I think”); time, opportunities and resources (e.g. “…if there was more time to put my ideas into practice”); obstacles of a social nature (e.g. “…if I had not been limited by my family”); and the absence of or low personal motivation (e.g. “…if I had more energy”).

This article presents and discusses some barriers to creativity in HE as found in a study with teachers. It also suggests possible avenues to reduce the impact of these barriers through the notion of accessibility in HE based on the principles of Universal Instructional Design ( Silver et al. , 1998 ). These principles have led universities to apply accessibility measures consisting of identifying learning barriers in order to mitigate their effect.

Methodology

This pilot study is contextualised within a case study bound to the context of an HE institution: the Education Faculty of Universitat de Vic in Catalonia, Spain. The study aims to understand and identify aspects and patterns of creative processes, which may allow building a system that integrates assessment criteria for faculty members. There is an emphasis on uniqueness and simultaneously the implicit understanding of its difference from other cases ( Stake, 1995 , p. 8). Case studies can be considered a “bounded system” ( Creswell, 2007 , p. 73) in that they look at a diversity of sources, such as people and programmes, to gain a deep understanding of a phenomenon.

As mentioned above, the present case study focuses on faculty members teaching art-related courses, and the further case studies will broaden the scope, incorporating perceptions from faculty members from diverse fields of knowledge, and education students about their perceptions of assessment when it comes to creativity. This article hence focuses on assessment criteria in art education-content courses through a series of focus groups with faculty members teaching art-related courses.

As a method of data collection, focus groups provide an efficient manner to collect participants' perceptions while allowing them the possibility to build upon others' perceptions. It has been described as an excellent data collection method to gain a deeper understanding of meanings, beliefs and cultures that influence feelings, attitudes and behaviours of individuals ( Rabiee, 2004 ) as they allow the opportunity to discuss participants' perceptions, ideas, opinions and thoughts ( Krueger, 2014 ).

This case study was designed as a series of three focus groups that were set up as an open conversation where participants could share practices and perceptions of assessing students' creative processes. The first focus group was designed to identify emergent themes and concerns from participants. These were then used to elaborate a semi-structured focus group protocol for the second and third sessions. In line with Krueger's recommendations ( 2014 ), participants of the first focus group were divided subsequently into two small focus groups, at which every concept or factor was discussed together. Conversations unfolded after the presentation of the study's aims, and the individual consent forms were gathered. These conversations were recorded, then transcribed and shared with all participants. Transcripts were analysed, coded by two participant-researchers and their analysis results were then cross-referenced to validate emergent themes and categories. Group of the first phase.

The three focus groups allowed the collection and analysis of data on assessment criteria in art education-content, and the identification of creativity as a constraint-experience, as an emergent and unexpected theme. This article focuses on creativity as a constraint-experience, and it presents some possible solutions in order to minimise perceived barriers or obstacles that emerge when creativity is elicited.

Participants

Participants in the first phase of the study are members of the Arts and Science Didactics department in the Education Faculty at Vic University (Spain). The group consists of 13 lecturers that are running art-related courses: four of them are involved in the discipline of visual arts education, four in drama education, two in music education, one in poetry and one in information technologies and communication (ITCs). Participants are senior and experienced faculty members involved in primary education, early childhood education, social education, design, engineering and sports degrees.

Following the recommendations and guidelines suggested by Krueger (2014) the study's design proceeds through three focus group sessions, one building upon each other. Each focus group lasted one hour and a half and took place in a co-working comfortable room, and no more than eight participants were asked at once. Some days before each session, participants were notified through email reminding them of the session and informing them about the main topics which would be under discussion. In the first sessions, following suggestions made by Onwuegbuzie et al. (2009) , explanatory framing texts were presented as stimulus material.

Limitations

The main limitations of this research derive from the very nature of the methodological approach. Focus group has been the single used source. Other means of collecting data, such as the analysis of programmes, could be used in the future. The second and third phases of this pilot study broaden the scope of the study, exploring students and teachers perspectives from non-art disciplines. For these phases, other instruments of data collection, such as questionnaires will provide new perspectives and approaches.

Researchers have opted for a thematic analysis ( Braun and Clarke, 2006 ) because it offers a flexible approach and simple procedures, both useful for an exploratory study. The tape-based format has been used “because the researcher can focus on the research question and only transcribe the portions that assist in better understanding of the phenomenon of interest” ( Onwuegbuzie et al. , 2009 , p. 4). An emergent-systematic focus group has been designed, “wherein the term emergent refers to the focus groups that are used for exploratory purposes and systematic refers to the focus groups that are used for verification purposes” (p. 6). Indeed, the first focus group was designed as an exploratory session in which participants were encouraged to actively participate with opinions, beliefs, perceptions, thoughts, ideas and feelings.

In the analysis process, concepts or words have been labelled, and then considered according to frequency, contextual meaning and degree of consensus. The transcriptions of the sessions were also used as support for the analysis. Two of the researchers reviewed the recordings and transcriptions. Terms and concepts related to, or identified as barriers to creativity were highlighted and clustered in different domains or categories. Atlas-ti was used for labelling terms and ascertaining the frequency of words. Only the terms/aspects that appeared in each reviewers' analysis were deemed to be significant factors to be considered. In the second focus group, every concept or factor was discussed together in a meeting.

The data gathered and analysed in the study suggests that while the artistic experience is perceived by the majority of educators as a powerful tool to elicit students' individual growth along the learning process in HE, it comes with a set of difficulties or barriers. In an attempt to identify determining factors of assessing creative processes, researchers organised some of the emerging factors as found in the first focus group into three categories or stages: (1) preliminaries to elicit creative process within a class, (2) aspects related to the development of creativity within the teaching-learning process and (3) evaluation or reflexive factors once the creative process has ceased. While this organisation allowed for some clarity upon which to build the successive focus groups, it also helped to reveal the endurance of intersecting individual limitations that needed to be considered. The study identified four intersecting individual limitations perceived as obstacles to student's creativity within an educational setting: (1) individual reluctance or emotional block to be creative, (2) the need to be accompanied or to be guided and mentored by the teacher throughout a creative process, (3) time investment and time management of a creative process and (4) individual background. At the same time, the identification of these four dimensions seemed to show patterns of mutual interaction and dependencies.

Individual reluctance or emotional block to being creative

There was complete agreement that the obligation to be creative in HE can block and become immobilising for many individuals, especially in those grades or studies that are not specifically linked to the arts. In the same manner, risk and uncertainty, in a consensual way, were considered as desirable conditions from the educator's perspectives. And at the same time, participants agreed about the discomfort and feeling of awkwardness that this uncertainty and risk assumption can generate for some students when grades are involved. Alongside this feeling of bewilderment, it seems to be important for students to acquire an understanding of the general meaning of the process, otherwise, emotional blocks could appear.

Accompaniment / guiding

The word accompaniment was the third in the ranking of the frequency of tagged concepts in the focus groups. A thorough analysis reveals the significance of the educator and students' interaction as they engage in a creative process. Accompaniment which may be understood as being guided or mentored at some point throughout the process of learning is an important and critical factor. An educator's guidance is perceived by participants in the study as essential at the beginning of, and during the development of, any creative process, as well as during the assessment sessions. What seemed to underlie the importance of students' guidance by educators was the perception of mentoring as a factor that may minimise the effect of uncertainty, fear of error, assumption of risk and the comprehension and understanding of students involved in the artistic creative process.

Time management

Time preparing, delivering (performing, creating) and reflecting upon artistic and creative processes have been identified as an important factor that can be limiting. Some participants manifested the difficulty to manage the time for students to explore, to pose questions, to get lost and come to terms with what the preliminaries or tasks proposed were. Underlying this perception was the understanding of the creative process, as well as the teaching-learning process, as an experience that cannot be anticipated, neither accelerated. Occasionally, a difficulty for teachers to pause and step back from students' process-focused experience emerged too; this difficulty manifested in teachers finding it difficult to allow the students to experience the course of variations and intensities of the creative process: being in awe, bewilderment, feeling lost, becoming active, generating new insights, etc. At the same time, as expressed in the focus group, there seemed to be a general agreement on the current framework of shortening and intensification of academic courses as a factor of blocking creativity: for participants in the three focus groups, time becomes critical. For example since the Bologna agreement, HE Institutions within the framework, such as Vic University (Catalonia, Spain), now run programmes quarterly rather than annually; this was viewed as detrimental in terms of time afforded for the creative process to occur. In this context, time management should balance tensions between the time required for artistic exploration, production and assessment and time needed for contextualising, preparing, giving meaning, unifying concepts and final observing. While it's true that many students are engaged in creativity through artistic practice, it is also true that many others may experience feelings of confusion, bewilderment, even anxiety.

Individual background

The contextual and personal background seems to emerge as possible conditioning factors in some cases. Each student comes from different previous experiences, more so within the Spanish framework where there is no art specialist in Primary Education: diverse perceptions, experiences and expectations about what art education is, coexist within the culture of HE. And simultaneously there is the necessity to become adjusted to the different learning styles and teaching philosophies. These different approaches to artmaking and creative thinking may emerge within the space of teaching-learning as barriers that inhibit the flow of actions and thought in creative processes.

Potential solutions

Some experience-based ideas that may allow the removal or minimisation of some of the barriers emerged during the three focus groups. Many of these ideas have not been fully agreed upon or need some nuanced understanding. The concepts of accompaniment, time, blocking, risk, reflection and of course, creativity or assessment ( Figure 1 ) were in the core of the focus groups as recurring elements. However, other concepts less cited, such as relationship, patience, and humour, have been identified too, as significant factors involved in the creative process within a pedagogical event. They suggest possible venues to minimise some of the barriers, as discussed in the following section.

Conclusions

Findings of this study are in accord with the existing literature, yet factors that may trigger individual reluctance or emotional blocking are widely differing. Fear is a significant individual blocking factor. This fear is perceived by teachers as fear of failing, of not having good grades, and foremost, the fear of uncertainty. In all cases, there is a resonance with inhibition/shyness factors described in the “Inventory of Barriers to Personal Creativity” ( Alencar, 1999 ; Morais et al. , 2014a , b ). In the aim to remove or overcome that fear, the result of our analysis points to the importance of giving a safe space to our students. According to Jackson (2004a , b ), it's important to provide safe spaces where they can try new things out and also, give students the confidence to take risks, or as artist William Kentridge summarises when referring to the art studio as a s afe space for stupidity . Likewise, the findings suggest that this safe space is in correlation with the teacher's role throughout the creative process: the emerging theme of accompaniment or the perceived need for students to be accompanied and guided in this process.

What seemed to underlie the importance of students' guidance by educators was the perception of mentoring as a factor that may minimise the effect of uncertainty, fear of error, assumption of risk and the comprehension and understanding of students involved in the artistic creative process.

Allowing this feeling of freedom would promote self-esteem and self-confidence. Perhaps considering, tolerance for error would be an appropriate principle as part of an educators’ disposition. It is one of the seven principles of Universal Design ( Connell et al. , 1997 ), a theoretical framework that allows and guides the design of products and environments to be useable to the greatest extent possible by people of all ages and abilities/disabilities. Thus, from constructivist and other educational frameworks the importance of climate in the classroom for learning processes is reinforced ( McGuire and Scott, 2006 ; Reyes et al. , 2012 )

Other related elements to the emotional and personal reluctance dimension are understanding or giving meaning and sense to the educational need for either an artistic or creativity-based educational process (and assessment). As argued by Jackson (2006a) this reluctance may be bounded too, to HE cultures and their difficulty to recognise creativity as an explicit learning objective and as part of the assessment criteria. Yet, this does not seem to be the climate within the context of the participants of this study and within the institution that they teach.

Additionally, the management of rhythms or tempi is perceived for participants as a critical factor for a successful arts-based learning activity or process. Otherwise, environmental pressure might appear. About creativity, focus group participants agreed that there was strong interdependency between time management and accompaniment. Aspects as exploration, fostering autonomy, understanding the educational meaning of the artistic assessment process are undoubtedly time dependent. According to Jackson (2006a , b) , having sufficient time and space in the curriculum to allow students to develop their own creativity is one of the conditions that appear to facilitate students' creativity. Morais et al. (2014a) identified as main lack of time dimension factors: Personal time to explore, to put ideas on practice or develop them, evaluate them. As Blamires and Peterson (2014) recognise, the meaning of creativity is an important aspect that might be understood in terms of classroom practice especially in relation to the concept of assessment for learning . Our findings reinforce those personal time requirements but also recognise the need of time to: minimise effects of individual starting points, give meaning to the creative process, unifying criteria, allowing errors and tentatives or allowing the discovery. McWilliam (2007) states that: “there is risk in holding on and risk in letting go. And there is additional risk in insisting that we can and should know exactly when and how to count creativity as a singular graduate attribute” (p. 10). Indeed, time is fundamental in the creative process management in HE, especially with students not familiar with artistic creation. This time requirement factor undoubtedly needs further development in any future study.

An aspect that oftentimes emerged within the focus groups was the student's capacity to reflect upon their creative practice and performance, as well as about their learning. The capacity to reflect emerged at first as a desirable or required learning competence in HE students. It was proposed too as a means to assess their curiosity and autonomy, while involved in creative tasks. Students' capacity to pose or elaborate questions along their learning paths could additionally be a solution to creativity barriers: while it may help teachers to assess students' engagement, it may also provide indicators for teachers who want to accompany or guide the students throughout the creative process. And simultaneously, the creation of opportunities for questioning suggests the possibility of an individual transformation, and to an extent, a transformation of the meaning of creativity itself: breaking through conventions that present it as an individual and somewhat elevated attribute ( Dellas and Gaier, 1970 ); breaking through the correlation of creativity with novelty and originality, and instead dislocating the focus from the outcome to the process, focusing on students' capacity to pose and elaborate questions.

A careful and respectful view from teachers seems to be important to promote creativity in HE. In conjunction with the error acceptance as a part of the learning process. We agree with Jackson (2006a , b) that teachers who care about creativity can overcome these implied barriers. The present study cannot attempt to offer a complete detailed analysis of these general questions.

Finally, some unexpected factors have emerged tangentially. While they probably cannot be considered as root factors, overall they seem to indicate that in the challenge of using artistic practices to promote creativity in HE, teachers need to develop personal qualities like patience and a sense of humour. Perhaps indicative that the themed four dimensions have implications for and beyond classroom educational settings, connecting once again with the point that arts education is seen as a cornerstone of socio-cultural practice beyond the classroom as Eisner (2012) states and is a point made in the earlier part of the paper and is furthermore a rationale showing why arts education matters to everyone out there in the workplace/social learning environment.

For example, accompaniment could be used to support creativity in the workplace, in a similar way that a coach, mentor or more knowledgeable other might provide scaffolding or question the learner of a new skill or knowledge base of a creative practice, in order that it is more experientially understood.

Perhaps in a complimentary manner, accompaniment in the workplace is as much about ensuring that a creative practice is confidently engaged with as it is experientially understood. The role is in many cases then, about challenging and emotionally supporting another when the risk of error seems daunting.

We recognise the contextual scope of this case study as limited. To develop a broader scope, factors would require extending the investigation to new settings, different universities, different countries and different cultural frameworks. This would certainly have the capacity to broaden and deepen the initial findings. Nonetheless, it seems that creativity is a desirable outcome and skill in HE. However, it is dependent on a plethora of external, personal, background or emotional factors, any of which may generate some reluctance or barriers to the process. This first phase study points out that creativity could be a limiting goal for some people, possibly even beyond HE contexts.

The results of this study indicate that when creative practices, arts or artistic formats are used as a learning or assessment method it is important to take care to avoid or minimise these potential barriers and difficulties.

Graphic summary of concepts labelled and seized according to the frequency of their emergence

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Corresponding author

About the authors.

Lluís Solé is a musician and researcher. Is also Professor of Music Pedagogy at Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de Catalunya in Spain. He was initially educated as a Biologist but also as a piano, recorder, harpsichord, cornett and bansuri player. He has worked as a music soloist and as a teacher in secondary education. Also is founder and conductor of the UVic's Inclusive Orchestra, an access and equity project on music practice based in the application of Universal Design Principles to orchestras. His interests are focused on accessibility in instrumental music-making and participation in music regardless of individual musical skills (abilities). He is also interested in the Arts-Based processes through music.

Laia Sole-Coromina is a visual artist art educator and current Professor of art education at Universitat de Vic (Spain). Her research interests include social space, art practices as sites of learning, and arts-based research. She holds a Doctorate in Education by Teachers College, Columbia University, with a dissertation on art, play and social space. As an artist, she is interested in activating new ideas about spatiality. Her artwork has been exhibited in group shows at The Drawing Center (New York), Cuchifritos Gallery (New York) or Fabra i Coats (Barcelona), among others.

Simon Ellis Poole is the Senior Lead in Cultural Education and Research at Storyhouse, Chester's award-winning theatre; Programme Leader for the Masters in Creative Practice in Education at the University of Chester; Researcher at the Centre for Research into Education, Creativity and Arts through Practice (RECAP); and Researcher with the International Thriving at Work Research Group. He has held positions outside of the university too, such as the Director of Research for ‘Lapidus International' and Vice-Chair of the Local Cultural Education Partnership. He is also Managing Director of Soil Records; Singer with ‘the loose kites' and is a published poet and author.

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