Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills - ADDENDUM



SSome subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in the following important ADDENDUM to "Re: Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills" Hake (2011):

In response to "Re: Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills'' [Hake (2011)], Steven Jones (2011) wrote:

"I would also encourage those interested in the assessment of critical thinking skills to consider using the Critical thinking Assessment Test (CAT), a tool created by folks at Tennessee Tech in consultation with a rather impressive national advisory board. The CAT may be of particular interest to subscribers of POD because - aside from its obvious use for assessment of critical thinking -- the test is intentionally designed so that it can be used as a catalyst for faculty development as well. Information about the CAT can be found at: <http://www.tntech.edu/cat/home/>"

According to information at <http://www.tntech.edu/cat/contacts/>, Barry Stein is the principal investigator.
In the abstract of Hake (2011) I wrote: "I give academic references to all the above tests as well as to valuable articles in the critical thinking area: (1) 'Assessing Critical Thinking Skills' [Stein et al. (2003)]"

Unfortunately I had been unaware of the more recent work of Stein and his colleagues at Tennessee Tech that had culminated in the valuable "Critical thinking Assessment Test [CAT (2011)].

Sorry for the bother.


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which Recognize the
Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>
<http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com>
<http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake>

REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 24 August 2011.]

Bransford, J.D. & B.S. Stein. 1993. "The Ideal Problem Solver: A guide for improving thinking, learning and creativity." Worth Publishers; 2nd edition. Amazon.com information at <http://amzn.to/n1fG5E>.

CAT. 2011. "Critical thinking Assessment Test" Tennessee Technological University, online at <http://www.tntech.edu/cat/home/>. According to the Overview: "The CAT Instrument is a unique tool designed to assess and promote the improvement of critical thinking and real-world problem solving skills. The instrument is the product of extensive development, testing, and refinement with a broad range of institutions, faculty, and students across the country. The National Science Foundation has provided support for many of these activities."

Hake, R.R. 2011. "Re: Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills," online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/oMew7d>. Post of 24 Aug 2011 09:02:59-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists and are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/qZ2FRc> with a provision for comments.
Jones, S.K. 2011. "Re: Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills," online on the OPEN! POD archives at <http://bit.ly/qCB4Yz>. Post of 24 Aug 2011 14:08:59-0600.

Stein, B.S. A.F. Haynes, and J. Unterstein. 2003. "Assessing Critical Thinking Skills," Paper presented at SACS/COC Annual Meeting / Nashville, Tennessee / December 6 - 9; online as a 385 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/mWzHkg>. The Appendix lists "Current Critical Thinking Tests, Types, and Weaknesses (Based on Information Obtained from U.S. Department of Education, 2000)." Stein is coauthor of "The Ideal Problem Solver: A guide for improving thinking, learning and creativity" [Bransford & Stein (1993)].