scholarly journals Interrelations of paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs and critical thinking disposition among undergraduate medical students of RSU

2020 ◽  
Vol 85 ◽  
pp. 02013
Author(s):  
Arturs Utinans ◽  
Gunta Ancane ◽  
Anita Villerusa ◽  
Janis Vetra

Magical and paranormal beliefs have been found in all cultures and strata of society, including medical university students. Critical thinking skills and dispositions are generally considered desirable outcomes of the educational process. Nevertheless, there is the lack of conceptual clarity about interrelations between the magical and critical thinking. Aim of the study is to explore prevalence of magical, paranormal beliefs and pseudoscientific beliefs among undergraduate medical students, as well as to explore prevalence of critical thinking dispositions among medical students and to assess interrelations and psychodynamics between “noncritical” forms of thinking – magical, paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs, and critical thinking disposition. The results showed statistically significant negative correlation between paranormal beliefs and critical thinking disposition if students are put in optional situation between opposite statements. If statements in assessment scales do not put respondents in optional situation, their results do not show significant correlations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liyuan Cui ◽  
Yaxin Zhu ◽  
Jinglou Qu ◽  
Liming Tie ◽  
Ziqi Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Critical thinking disposition helps medical students and professionals overcome the effects of personal values and beliefs when exercising clinical judgment. The lack of effective instruments to measure critical thinking disposition in medical students has become an obstacle for training and evaluating students in undergraduate programs in China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CTDA test. Methods A total of 278 students participated in this study and responded to the CTDA test. Cronbach’s α coefficient, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, floor effects and ceiling effects were measured to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. Construct validity of the pre-specified three-domain structure of the CTDA was evaluated by explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The convergent validity and discriminant validity were also analyzed. Results Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire questionnaire was calculated to be 0.92, all of the domains showed acceptable internal consistency (0.81–0.86), and the test-retest reliability indicated acceptable intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) (0.93, p < 0.01). The EFA and the CFA demonstrated that the three-domain model fitted the data adequately. The test showed satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. Conclusions The CTDA is a reliable and valid questionnaire to evaluate the disposition of medical students towards critical thinking in China and can reasonably be applied in critical thinking programs and medical education research.


2007 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man Sang Wong

Critical thinking skill is considered to be one of the important attributes to nurture students to cope with the challenges coming from this ever-changing world. The training of critical thinking skill could be quite different from the conventional education. Thus, special arrangements should be considered in the curriculum design and effective assessment method should be employed to test the subsequent learning outcome. This study was to evaluate prospectively the development of critical thinking disposition of the student prosthetists and orthotists in Hong Kong and a validated instrument, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) was used. The results showed that there was significant improvement in 5 out of the 7 domains, namely Truthseeking, Open-mindedness, Systematicity, Analyticity, Critical thinking self-confidence, Inquisitiveness and Maturity of judgment in 3 years' time. Further curriculum enhancements were suggested as the sum of all the domains was just slightly above the threshold of positive tendency.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masoud Ali Karami ◽  
Abdulhussein Shakurnia

Background: The development of critical thinking skills and disposition in universities is an important goal of education. Evaluation of critical thinking disposition and its influential factors as a competency of faculty members has attracted the attention of educational experts. Objectives: The present study aimed to assess the critical thinking disposition of the pharmacy faculty members of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Iran in 2018. Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, data were collected using a questionnaire consisting of two sections. The first section included demographic variables, and the second section was Ricketts critical thinking disposition inventory. The questionnaire was provided to 41 faculty members, and 36 questionnaires were completed and returned. Data analysis was performed in SPSS version 18 using t-test and Pearson's correlation-coefficient. Results: The mean score of the critical thinking disposition of the participants was 134.41 out of 165. No significant difference was observed in the mean score of critical thinking disposition in terms of gender and academic rank. Moreover, no significant correlations were denoted between the critical thinking disposition, age, and work experience of the faculty members. Conclusion: Due to the educational role of faculty members and the necessity of developing critical thinking skills in universities, continuous training must be implemented for faculty members for familiarization with various aspects of critical thinking and the required teaching strategies, followed by the promotion of these skills in students.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liyuan Cui ◽  
Yaxin Zhu ◽  
Jinglou Qu ◽  
Liming Tie ◽  
Ziqi Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Critical thinking disposition helps medical students and professionals overcome the effects of personal values and beliefs when exercising clinical judgment. The lack of effective instruments to measure critical thinking disposition in medical students has become an obstacle for training and evaluating students in undergraduate programs in China. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CTDA test.Methods: A total of 278 students participated in this study and responded to the CTDA test. Cronbach’s a coefficient, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, floor effects and ceiling effects were measured to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. Construct validity of the pre-specified three-domain structure of the CTDA was evaluated by explanatory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The convergent validity and discriminant validity were also analyzed.Results: Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for the entire questionnaire was calculated to be 0.92, all of the domains showed acceptable internal consistency (0.81-0.86), and the test-retest reliability indicated acceptable intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) (0.93, p<0.01). The EFA and the CFA demonstrated that the three-domain model fitted the data adequately. The test showed satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity.Conclusions: The CTDA is a reliable and valid questionnaire to evaluate the disposition of medical students towards critical thinking in China and can reasonably be applied in critical thinking programs and medical education research.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akbar Soltani Jr ◽  
Mahboobeh Khabaz Mafinejad ◽  
Maryam Tajik ◽  
Hamideh Moosapour ◽  
Taha Bayat

BACKGROUND Teaching critical thinking is one of the main requirements for a successful career in the medical profession. Given that healthcare is an uncertain domain and prone to diagnostic and management errors, improving critical thinking abilities of physicians could be an influential factor in medical routine practice, such as choosing treatment plans, making an accurate diagnosis and reducing the medical errors. OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of holding a longitudinal critical thinking course on medical students’ skills. METHODS A longitudinal descriptive design was used with a convenience sample of 103 students; 91 students participated two times in completing a questionnaire each March from 2013 to 2016. The valid response rate was 88%. Students were asked to complete the California Critical Thinking Skills Test in the week before their first educational session. Posttest data were collected 6 to 8 weeks after the program. RESULTS Ninety-one medical students with the mean age of 20±2.8 years participated in this study. Forty-three of them were male (%47.3). The highest change in both pre and post-test scores was for the analysis part. We have a positive difference in all the subscales but the difference is not significantly meaningful for the inference and deductive part (P-value= 0.28 and 0.42). We found no significant difference between the scores of male and female (P=0.77). CONCLUSIONS The study indicated that teaching clinical thinking to undergraduate medical students could improve their critical thinking skills. Students performed the best in the analysis, inductive reasoning, and evaluation skills and their weakest skill was inference and deductive.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 415-427
Author(s):  
Robin A.F. Andrews ◽  
Philip Tyson

Purpose The development and application of critical thinking skills are an important component of success at University. Such skills permit students to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of evidence, argument and theory. However research suggests that many students believe in paranormal phenomena (e.g. telekinesis). Such beliefs defy the basic principles of science and do not stand up to critical scrutiny. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study aimed to investigate paranormal beliefs within a student population: differences among gender, academic discipline and academic performance were explored. Findings Findings indicated that females expressed higher levels of paranormal belief than males, “hard” science students (e.g. Biology) and “soft” science students (e.g. Sociology) expressed lower levels of belief than arts students, and a significant negative correlation indicated that high achievers were less likely to endorse paranormal beliefs. Originality/value In light of these results the authors suggest that paranormal phenomena may be a useful tool for teaching critical thinking skills at university.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norazlinda Mohd Darby ◽  
Abdullah Mat Rashid

Critical Thinking Disposition is known as an important factor that drives a student to use Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in order to solve engineering drawing problems. Infusing them while teaching the subject may enhance students’ disposition and higher order thinking skills. However, no research has been done in critical thinking disposition while teaching engineering drawing. The current study is to evaluate how critical thinking disposition infused in Engineering Drawing affected students’ thinking disposition. Quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group design was conducted on the groups from two different Technical Matriculation College for 8 weeks. Two teaching methods, which are Conventional approach and Infusion Approach, were used while teaching Engineering Drawing for control group and treatment group. Control group with 29 students and treatment group consist of 31 students were selected as samples. Pre-test shows that there is no significant different in critical thinking dispositions between control group and treatment group. However, the result in post-test shows that treatment group was significantly higher in critical thinking dispositions compared to control group.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoko Kusumoto

Abstract Today the Framework for 21st Century Learning developed by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) is widely recognized and has been used in the U.S., Canada and New Zealand. P21 defines and illustrates the skills and knowledge students need and states that critical thinking is fundamental for twenty-first century success and essential for success in an academic context. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) also values the importance of cultivating critical thinking. However, critical thinking is not a part of the EFL curriculum in Japan, and lessons are not focused on the development of meta-cognitive strategies. How do we help students learn foreign languages and twenty-first Century Skills at the same time? Active learning and content and language integrated learning (CLIL) offer such a learning environment where learners enhance their cognitive skills and gain knowledge while they are learning content and language. This paper reports on a study that explores how active learning with CLIL instruction helps Japanese EFL learners to develop critical thinking skills. In the author’s student-centered instruction based class, critical thinking was stimulated with questions based on the revised Bloom’s taxonomy to develop lower and higher order thinking skills while various scaffolding activities were provided. Pretest-posttest results from the Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS) and the Cornell Critical Thinking Test (CCTT) Level Z were compared to determine to what extent, if any, EFL learners developed critical thinking disposition and skills through active learning in CLIL classes. The results of the CTDS and CCTT suggest that active learning has value for increasing critical thinking.


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