Some subscribers to MathEdCC might be interested in a discussion-list post "Re: Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills" [Hake (2011)].

The abstract reads:

*****************************************
ABSTRACT: David Musick of the DrEd list wrote (paraphrasing): "We are working on a project related to 'critical thinking skills' and how they might be assessed in medical students.  I am aware of the 'California Critical Thinking Skills Test series' and the 'Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal.' I would be interested in learning more about similar instruments."
 
DrEd subscribers suggested the "Health Sciences Reasoning Test," a test "developed for use by educators and researchers to assess the critical thinking skills of health science professionals and health science students," commercially available from "Insight Assessment" <http://www.insightassessment.com/>.

Among other tests that might be of interest to Musick and others are:

a.  Biologist Anton Lawson's "Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning"  (CTSR), a test of "ability to apply aspects of scientific and mathematical reasoning to analyze a situation, make a prediction, or solve a problem." The CTSR has contributed importantly to physics education research, thanks to Coletta, Phillips, & Steinert.

b. The Council for Aid to Education's "Collegiate Learning Assessment" (CLA) employed by Arum & Roksa to show (purportedly) that U.S. higher education is "Academically Adrift." Arum & Roksa (2011, p. 21) wrote: "According to its developers, the CLA was designed to access 'core outcomes espoused by all of higher education - critical thinking, analytical reasoning, problem solving, and writing.' "

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)],

(2) "Responding Responsibly To the Frenzy to Assess Learning in Higher Education" [Shavelson & Huang (2003)].
*****************************************

To access the complete 13 kB post please click on <http://bit.ly/oMew7d>.


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>

"What we assess is what we value. We get what we assess,
and if we don't assess it, we won't get it."
           Lauren Resnick [quoted by Grant Wiggins (1990)]
REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 24 August 2011.]
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.

Wiggins, G. 1990. "The Truth May Make You Free, But the Test May Keep  You Imprisoned: Toward Assessment Worthy of the Liberal Arts," AAHE Assessment Forum: 17-31; online at <http://bit.ly/a7g09T>.