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, and extant reviews of intervention studies suggest critical thinking is amenable to improvement. In this systematic review, we aimed to critically analyze studies reporting interventions in higher education, such as student characteristics; focus, length, and duration of interventions; and measurement and statistical issues. Forty-five studies published between 2010 and 2023 were reviewed. While most studies clearly defined critical thinking, definitions often lacked clarity as to the nature of critical thinking. Also, measures were often misaligned with definitions and revealed ontological problems. Crucially, a lack of details largely precluded thorough analyses of intervention characteristics vis-à-vis reported outcomes and raised questions about the causal conclusions that were reached. Implications of the findings and specific recommendations for future research are forwarded. notReviewed other