Critical Thinking in College – Can We Teach It?

College students are expected to develop critical thinking (CT) skills while in college. Empirical findings about the impact of college on CT are mixed, mainly because of shifts in its definition and measurement. While CT has long been of interest to educational and cognitive researchers, recently developed Performance Assessment (PA) presents a solid measurement. We conceptualize CT in line with the newest theory, CT as 21st century skill, and focus on two main components: source analysis and balanced reasoning. The current study introduces the Bryn Bower Series, a PA task series that is feasible for longitudinal use at the classroom level. In two samples, we use the Bryn Bower Series to measure the development of CT over the course of a semester. In a lecture-based sample, we find no evidence of CT development. In a seminar-based intervention sample, we find some evidence of CT development. We discuss implications for the promise of PA measures, specifically the Bryn Bower Series, and what these results could mean for the different approaches colleges take to developing CT.