Critical Thinking¶

Learner Variable · All learner variables
Evidence · 69 claims (49 show a difference, 15 mixed, 5 no difference) · 51 studies (18 causal, 9 review, 9 associational, 6 theoretical, 5 qualitative, 3 design, 1 quant-synthesis), q1–q3 · 11 of 51 report an effect size · 67 claims rest on one study

Description¶

Critical thinking is purposeful, reasoned evaluation: asking who is presenting information, in what context and on what evidence, considering several perspectives and kinds of evidence before drawing an inference, and using that to make decisions and solve problems. It combines a set of reasoning skills with a disposition to use them. It is often measured by questionnaires about attitudes toward critical thinking, as well as by reasoning tasks.

It is described as developing from early childhood, when children begin to ask questions and weigh evidence, through adolescence, when growing capacity for abstract, logical and hypothetical thinking changes what learners can do with it. It is treated as preparation for learners' roles as participants in society and as a basis for lifelong learning. What counts as critical thinking, and how it is expressed, can differ across cultures and communities.

It draws on metacognition (monitoring one's own reasoning), executive function and working memory, and on prior knowledge: learners need some knowledge of a topic to think critically about it. Related wiki pages include epistemic beliefs, which bear on how learners judge knowledge claims, and problem solving.

Implications¶

Context¶

Needs content to work on: critical thinking about a topic presupposes some knowledge of it.
Discussion, debate and peer collaboration are described as occasions to practise it.
Drawing on learners' own identities and communities may support its development.

Target Learners¶

Learners from the early grades through high school, with abstract and hypothetical reasoning maturing in adolescence.
Learners who accept information without asking about its source or evidence.

Target Learning Objectives¶

Evaluating sources, evidence and arguments.
Reasoned decisions and solutions to problems.
Curiosity and further inquiry prompted by noticing gaps in knowledge.

Claims¶

A scholar identifies children's acquisition of appropriate critical thinking skills as the determining element of MLE quality in elementary schools [+W] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
A three-month WISE Agent intervention did not significantly increase sixth-graders' aggregate critical thinking disposition scores [-W] — instruction changes it
Active and collaborative approaches promote higher-order thinking and complex reasoning (attributed to earlier studies in a framework paper) [+M] — instruction changes it
AI-based educational technology use is positively associated with critical thinking among undergraduate medical students [+M] — instruction changes it
Among 245 Indonesian undergraduates, majorities reported concern about reduced critical thinking when depending on AI (75%), excessive reliance (73%), misinformation (70%) and unintentional plagiarism (69%), and 40% about algorithmic bias [~M] — instruction changes it
Among AI-exposed students, open collaboration predicted higher aggregate offloading, which was associated with lower Week 8 higher-order thinking (indirect estimate −0.34) [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Argumentation quality is associated with denser co-occurrence of scientific reasoning and self-regulation processes [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
ChatGPT users were significantly less likely to correctly compare and evaluate animal and plant protein sources [+M] — instruction changes it
Civic Online Reasoning Instruction Improves Evaluation [+S] — instruction changes it
Cognitive load is negatively associated with critical thinking and with self-regulated learning [+M] — instruction changes it
Cognitive load partially mediates the relationship between AI-based educational technology use and critical thinking [+M] — instruction changes it
Cognitive Maturity disposition scores significantly declined during the WISE Agent intervention, interpreted as de-centering of naive optimism [+M] — instruction changes it
Critical thinking disposition showed significant positive main effects on motivation and learning outcomes across all dialogue formats, with no format interaction [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Critical thinking instruction transfers better when taught alongside academic content than as a standalone subject [+M] — instruction changes it
Critical thinking is the dominant indirect pathway linking functional GenAI dependence with research creativity, accounting for approximately 85% of its total indirect effect [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Cross-sectional studies associate dependence-oriented conversational-AI scores with fatigue, lower critical thinking, procrastination, cognitive failures, and poorer well-being [+M] — instruction changes it
Cultivating AI intuition safeguards against technological overreliance and erosion of critical thinking (theoretical argument) [+W] — instruction changes it
GCLA use enhances higher-order thinking skills—critical thinking, problem-solving, and creativity—compared with traditional ChatGPT use [+M] — instruction changes it
GenAI feedback literacy mediates the association between GenAI use and critical thinking, with near-complete mediation [+M] — instruction changes it
GenAI use is positively associated with university students' self-reported critical analytical skills (total effect) [+M] — instruction changes it
GenAI's effects on higher-order thinking are mixed: support for reflection and idea expansion alongside cognitive offloading and no overall innovativeness gain [~M] — instruction changes it
GenAI-assisted education produces significantly higher higher-order thinking abilities than non-GenAI approaches (g = 0.72) [+M] — instruction changes it
GPT feedback in VR markedly improved problem-solving and critical thinking but had limited impact on creativity [+M] — instruction changes it
HOTS-oriented teaching improves disposition towards critical thinking subscales including truth-seeking, open-mindedness, self-confidence, and maturity [+M] — instruction changes it
Inquiry-based learning strategies in laboratory courses are reported to significantly improve critical thinking skills [+M] — instruction changes it
LLM responses that are incomplete or incorrect prompt students to question, verify and improve the information, fostering critical thinking through cycles of validation and correction [~M] — instruction changes it
One-session checklist (CRAAP) instruction in source evaluation did no better than the alternative methods it was compared with in two quasi-experiments [-M] — instruction changes it
A systematic review reports that over-reliance on AI dialogue systems fosters complacency and dependency and may weaken students' decision-making [+M] — instruction changes it
Over-reliance on AI dialogue systems reduces students' critical and analytical thinking skills, especially when they become overly dependent on AI-generated content [+M] — instruction changes it
Peer feedback promoted critical reflection, collaboration and engagement, but students doubted its reliability because peers were statistics beginners [~M] — instruction changes it
Problem-based learning environments consistently improve students' critical thinking compared with lecture-based instruction [+M] — instruction changes it
Proposition 2: mutual evaluation emphasizing reasons and responsive comparison will improve evaluative judgment more than unexplained self-rating [+W] — instruction changes it
Prospective teachers' critical thinking dispositions are positively and moderately correlated with their preference for contemporary educational philosophy [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Prospective teachers' critical thinking dispositions show no significant relationship with traditional educational philosophy preference [-M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Purposely teaching for higher order thinking skills enhances high school students' critical thinking compared with traditional teaching [+M] — instruction changes it
Reflective thinking moderates the direct GenAI use–critical thinking path: positive at low reflectivity, non-significant at high reflectivity [~M] — instruction changes it
Self-regulated learning moderates the cognitive load–critical thinking relationship, buffering the negative effect of load [~M] — instruction changes it
Self-reported critical-thinking disposition is positively associated with self-perceived employability among business students [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Some students lacked fundamental understanding of basic circuit concepts and offloaded critical thinking to AI during collaborative debugging [+W] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Students evolved from passive users of GenAI to critical evaluators, developing strategies for bias detection and source validation [+W] — instruction changes it
Students reported significant perceived gains in abstract and critical thinking, with other higher-order thinking effects ambiguous [~M] — instruction changes it
Students' reliance on surface-level evaluation strategies declined after the modules, including trust in dot-org domains, links, appearance, and About pages [+M] — instruction changes it
Survey items on critical evaluation and validation of ChatGPT outputs (Q11–Q13) received the lowest scores in both courses despite explicit validation instructions [-W] — instruction changes it
The indirect effect of GenAI use on critical thinking via feedback literacy is conditional on reflective thinking, strengthening as reflectivity rises [~M] — instruction changes it
The review reports that role-playing exercises significantly enhanced students' 21st-century skills including communication, collaboration, and critical thinking [+M] — instruction changes it
The TEFA-T model improves students' critical thinking skills on all measured indicators compared with conventional instruction [+M] — instruction changes it
University academic staff express substantial concerns about academic integrity, ethics, and erosion of skills such as critical thinking and creativity in relation to GenAI. [~W] — instruction changes it
WISE Agent feedback significantly increased Truth-seeking and CT Self-confidence disposition scores [+M] — instruction changes it
Within the bounded condition, stronger coded reflective engagement predicted higher Week 8 independent higher-order thinking [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Preschoolers in a multiliteracies folk-tale program showed increased critical-thinking behaviors in qualitative journal data [+M] — instruction changes it
Instruction increased students' ability to evaluate experiments designed by others on a paper-and-pencil test [+M] — instruction changes it
Individual-level critical thinking instruction has an unimpressive track record, motivating communal-level intervention [-W] — instruction changes it
All metacognitive strategy factors and critical thinking subfactors were significantly and positively correlated with each other and with academic writing [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Metacognition is significantly and positively associated with EFL students' critical thinking skills (Model 2) [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Effects of P(j)BL on CT are mixed across studies, with positive, null, and negative findings reported [~M] — instruction changes it
Evaluative questions elicit more historical reasoning than explanatory questions [+M] — instruction changes it
Meta-analytic evidence on GenAI and critical thinking shows a positive mean association with a prediction interval spanning harm to benefit [~W] — instruction changes it
Five prior knowledge types map onto first-, second-, and third-hand credibility evaluation strategies [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Gaps in source knowledge hinder source-credibility judgments, particularly inferences about benevolence [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Instruction improves adolescents' metastrategic knowledge of sourcing and corroboration, with gains reflected in evaluation performance [+M] — instruction changes it
Online genre knowledge shapes credibility expectations and guides credibility evaluations [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Prior knowledge can hinder credibility evaluation through selective attention and overconfidence [~M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Topical vocabulary knowledge is positively associated with adolescents' multiple-source integration, evaluation, and synthesis performance [+M] — learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
Trained students increased references to the more reliable source in justifications, specifically for the more reliable source [+M] — instruction changes it
Dialogic learning produces a more positive effect on value-loaded critical-thinking competences than non-dialogic learning in pre-vocational secondary Biology [+M] — instruction changes it
Gains in critical-thinking competences from dialogic lessons did not come at the expense of Biology subject-matter knowledge [+M] — instruction changes it
After the intervention, some students shifted from one-sided to two-sided reasoning: comments against their own side doubled and own-side support halved when reading the other-side text [+M] — instruction changes it
Reading the own-side account elicited more valid elaborative inferences, relevant associations, consequences-for-present statements and evaluative comments, while the other-side account elicited more invalid inferences [+M] — instruction changes it
Students made more evaluative comments after the dialogic argumentation intervention, but their evaluations still favored their own position [~M] — instruction changes it

Measures¶

California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (Facione et al., 2001): learner questionnaire on attitudes and dispositions toward critical thinking.

Prior Knowledge: learners may need some background knowledge of a topic before they can think critically about it.
Executive Function: inhibition lets learners set aside irrelevant beliefs while reasoning, and flexibility helps them consider alternatives.
Collaboration: working with peers may give learners a lower-stakes place to question and test ideas.
Communication Skills: discussion and debate give practice in evaluating claims and justifying positions.
Academic and Critical Literacy: critical thinking is described as part of acquiring academic literacies.
Interest: noticing gaps in one's own knowledge can spark curiosity and information seeking.
Identity: critical thinking can take different forms across cultures and communities.
Metacognition: monitoring one's own reasoning is described as underlying critical thinking.
Motivation: willingness to think a question through is described as a precondition for critical thinking.
Sleep: good sleep may support the abstract reasoning and problem solving critical thinking draws on.
Processing Speed: age-related gains in processing speed are associated with improvements in reasoning.
Visual Processing: visuospatial skills help learners represent ideas and the relations among them.

Examples¶

Key Sources¶

Digital Promise. Learner Variability Navigator: Critical Thinking (Portrait of a Learner 4-8, Portrait of a Learner 9-12, Portrait of a Learner PK-3). lvp.digitalpromiseglobal.org. Licensed CC BY-NC 4.0.

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`learner-variable`
`id`	`critical-thinking`
`title`	`Critical Thinking`
`description`	`A learner's ability and disposition to evaluate information and arguments, weigh evidence and perspectives, and reason to a judgement or decision.`
`status`	`review`
`canonical`	`True`
`generated`	by `claude/unspecified` on `2026-10-16`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content

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