Critical thinking dispositions’ level among neophyte nursing students

Introduction: Critical thinking dispositions (CTD) are valued across the health professions disciplines being essential for decision-making, critical judgment and managing complex health situations. Promoting critical-thinking dispositions in undergraduate nursing students can support the students to utilize critical thinking during challenging patient care and problem-solving situations. Objective: This study aimed to assess the level of critical thinking disposition among neophyte nursing students in a private nursing college. Methodology: An analytical cross-sectional study design was adopted. Neophyte students (n=98) of the BSN program participated in the study. Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS) of 54 items under seven constructs was utilized to assess CTD level. Data was analyzed at descriptive and inferential level using SPSS 23.0 version. Results: Overall, CTD among neophytes nursing students is at 75% a progressive level. Contextual and inquisitiveness construct of CTDs are at positive CTD level while other constructs are at the progressive level. Students have completed their matriculation from public 55(56.1%) while FSc (Faculty of Science) from private sector 57(58.2%). Mothers of most neophytes 73(74.5%) were housewives and fathers were working in private organization 32(32.7%). There was no statistically significant association between CTD’s construct with demographic variables (P-Value, >0.05). FSc marks showed a significant association with overall CTD scores, intellectual and inquisitiveness, while admission entry test scores associate significantly with intellectual construct. Conclusion: The CTD level of neophyte is at a progressive level which suggest that different teaching and learning strategies could be implemented to improve this level.

Demystifying Critical Thinking through the Exploration of Social Media

Critical thinking is a term used to describe one of the aims of higher education programs around the world. As an example, the Council of Writing Program Administrators (2011) clearly lists critical thinking as one of five inherently desirable educational outcomes in post-secondary writing in the United States. However, the definition of critical thinking is complicated by a large variety of philosophical concepts and a lack of clarity as to what students should actually learn and do (Moore, 2013). Too often, university courses impose unclear expectations on students, which adds unnecessary difficulty, particularly for multilingual, multicultural, and international students, who might not be socialized into the use of critical thinking in academic work. (Robertson, et al., 2000; Tran, 2011). Even university instructors themselves admit to a lack of comprehensive understanding of critical thinking and how it can be taught (Hang, 2011). In so far as standards for critical thinking in academic work will be imposed on students, there is a need for a clarification of critical thinking, leading to practical directions for classroom instruction. In this chapter, I propose a pedagogically focused definition for critical thinking and illustrate how this definition can be applied to a teaching approach involving the exploration and presentation of information on social media. It begins with an explanation to students regarding the epistemology of critical thinking, dispositions that support or deter its practice, and integrated skills. Adhering to this framework of critical thinking, students then explore a variety of comments on social media in order to deepen their understanding of social issues and of society itself. This approach to teaching critical thinking also provides a structure for academic presentations or written assignments that may serve as final products of the learning experience. The nature of student perspectives with regards to this approach to teaching critical thinking is also discussed.

Correlation Between English Major Sophomores’ Critical Thinking Disposition and Their Listening Comprehension Performance

Critical thinking has drawn the attention of western researchers and domestic researchers as well. The study aims to explore whether there exists correlation between sophomore English majors’ critical thinking disposition and their listening comprehension performance, and any significant difference between critical thinking disposition and listening comprehension performance in different proficiency levels. Based on the analysis of the data collected from listening comprehension tests and critical thinking disposition questionnaire, the following findings are obtained: 1) there exists significant correlation between participants’ critical thinking disposition and their listening comprehension performance in general, with truth-seeking, analyticity and systematicity at the significant level of 0.01 and inquisitiveness, maturity, self-confidence and open-mindedness at the level of 0.05 in particular; 2) critical thinking disposition is significantly correlated with conversations and news broadcasts at the level of 0.01, and with passages at the level of 0.05.; 3) there also exist differences between critical thinking disposition and listening comprehension performance at different proficiency levels, with the correlations stronger in higher groups than those of lower groups. This study indicates that English major sophomores’ critical thinking needs fostering, and there is a necessity to utilize different types of listening materials to cultivate their critical thinking dispositions.

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Undergraduate College Students in A Comprehensive University of Mainland China

This study was undertaken to assess the critical thinking dispositions of undergraduate college students in a comprehensive university of mainland China and examine the roles of gender and major in the subjects’ critical thinking dispositions. An adapted Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) was used to survey 534 undergraduate students. Statistics revealed that over 3/4 of the subjects were negative in their dispositions to think critically, and no more than 1/4 of them were positive. All the subscale mean scores were between 30-35, indicating an ambivalent attitude to critical thinking. Meanwhile, the subjects were stronger in systematicity, truth-seeking, and self-confidence than in analyticity, inquisitiveness, and cognitive maturity. Besides, males got significantly higher scores in overall critical thinking dispositions, truth-seeking, cognitive maturity, open-mindedness, and justice-orientedness, an added subscale in the Chinese version of CCTDI. Finally, science-engineering students achieved a non-significant higher overall mean score than non-science-engineering students. They also scored higher in seven out of the eight subscales, but the differences were only significant in open-mindedness and justice-orientedness.

A comparison between Chinese and American male and female college students’ critical thinking dispositions

This quantitative research study compared the critical thinking dispositions of 91 college students studying in a public university in South East Florida. Forty-one students identified as Chinese and 50 students identified as American. The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) measured these students’ critical thinking dispositions. There were differences between students on the scale of open-mindedness and gender. A dis-ordinal interaction occurred. American males scored lower than American females on the CCTDI scale of open-mindedness. However, the opposite occurred for the Chinese students. Chinese males received a higher score on the CCTDI scale of open-mindedness than Chinese females. These findings are significant for educators and organizations when designing curriculum and workplace training development for leaders. Being open-minded feeds into decision-making and problem-solving are skills which are necessary for leadership. It is helpful to understand which variables impact individual’s disposition to critical thinking so that leadership skills can be developed.

The Effect of a Gender Course on the Gender Attitudes, Critical Thinking Dispositions, and Media Literacy Skills of University Students

This study aims to determine the effect of a university elective course focusing on gender on students' gender attitudes, critical thinking dispositions, and media literacy skills. The research design was quasi-experimental, and the study was conducted with a pretest/posttest control group. The sample of the study consisted of 74 students who took a course on gender during the fall semester of the 2016-2017 academic year and 70 students who had similar characteristics but did not receive the course. In the pretest and posttest evaluation conducted in the first week and the last week of the semester, respectively, the Student Information Form, the Gender Roles Attitude Scale (GRAS), the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS), and the Media Literacy Scale (MLS) were administered to the students in both groups. The Course Satisfaction Assessment Form was administered at the end of the term to the students who enrolled for the gender course. The GRAS scores of the experimental group increased at the end of the course (p<0.05). The GRAS total mean scores of both the groups were similar in the pretest, but there was a statistically significant difference between their total mean scores in the posttest (p<0.05). This study recommends more comprehensive and long-term studies on integrating a gender course into the university curriculum, which will help develop students' critical thinking disposition and media literacy skills and raise awareness of gender equality among students.