A Critical Analysis of Critical Thinking Interventions in Higher Education

Critical thinking is praised as the hallmark of cognitive development and a raison d’être for higher education. In this review, we analyzed critical thinking interventions in higher education with regard to participant characteristics; focus, length, and duration of interventions; and specific measurement and data-analytic treatment. Forty-five studies published between 2010 and 2023 were reviewed. One key finding from this analysis was the determination that most researchers’ definitions of critical thinking centered on how it manifests (procedural) rather than on its inherent nature (ontological). Further, the measures used were frequently misaligned with researchers’ definitions. Moreover, a lack of methodological details precluded thorough analyses of intervention characteristics vis-à-vis reported outcomes and raised questions about the causal conclusions reached. Among the implications discussed are the need for conceptual refinement, greater internal consistency between the conception and measurement, more prudent data-analytic approaches, and richer descriptions of the implemented intervention, study participants, and context.