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Background/purpose: This study aims at identifying differences in the level of critical thinking dispositions according to the sociodemographic (gender, age) and academic characteristics (study field) of undergraduate students in Portugal. Materials/methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, descriptive correlational study with a convenience random sample of 1017 students. Most of the participants were female (76.8%) and the average age of respondents was 21.8 ± 4.22. For data collection, we used the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS), consisting of 35 questions, validated for the Portuguese population. In the statistical analysis, we used the T-student, ANOVA and hierarchical multiple regression model. Results: The students showed an average positive disposition for critical thinking (the average score in the CTDS was 279.1 ± 27.1). The results demonstrated that gender, age and field of study influenced the dispositions for critical thinking. Older girls, attending courses in the field of Biomedicine were the ones with higher disposition to think critically. Conclusion: Female students generally show higher critical thinking scores dispositions regardless the study field.

Critical thinking skills are essential for success in life and work, and it is essential that learning strategies enable the development of critical thinking skills from the early years of schooling. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of cooperative learning using the RoundTable and Think-Pair-Share methods in the development of critical thinking skills such as observation, inference making, interpretation, analysis, and argumentation, in 4th graders students. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest and posttest using equivalent experimental and control groups. Results show that the use of cooperative learning, compared to a more traditional teaching methodology, was more effective in developing the critical thinking skills under study.

This study investigated the effects of lecturing, cooperative learning and concept maps on the development of critical and creative thinking skills. A quasi-experimental non-randomized study involved a class of students from the 3rd year of Psychology and two classes from the 3rd year of Pre-service Elementary Teachers. The study ran for 15 weeks, one semester. In one of the Primary School Teaching classes, cooperative learning and concept maps were used and in the other only cooperative learning. The Critical and Creative Thinking test was applied to assess pre and post critical and creative thinking skills. The results show that students from the two classes that used cooperative learning and cooperative learning + concept maps improved further critical and creative thinking skills in relation to the lecturing class, with no significant differences between the first two. Pedagogical recommendations are made according to these results.

While there is a strong consensus on the importance of Critical and Creative Thinking (CCT) skills for the rise of participatory citizens and work-ready professionals, the extent to which university attendance by itself supports their development and acquisition remains controversial. This research presents a cohort, longitudinal follow-up study aimed at investigating the impact of university attendance by itself on the CCT skills development of 41 higher education students from two, 3-year Bachelor's programmes at a northeastern Portuguese university, namely Pre-Service Teaching and Psychology. Using Lopes et al.'s Critical and Creative Thinking Test, an open-access CCT assessment instrument validated for the Portuguese higher education population, data were collected at the beginning of the first and of the third academic years: 2016-2017 and 2018-2019, respectively. Non statistically significant differences were found for both cohorts, suggesting that the domain-specific training of these study programmes per se are not a sufficient condition to enhance students' domain-general CCT skills. Therefore, further research is still needed to better identify the moderating variables influencing the development of students' CCT skills during their attendance in undergraduate higher education.

Even though Critical Thinking (CT) is an important goal for higher education institutions and labour market professionals, studies dealing with employers' perceptions on CT meaning and envisioning in the workplace are scarce. Intended to tackle this gap, the current study provides an overview of the need for and practical application of CT in the workplace from the employers' views. Adopting a qualitative research methodology, five focus group interviews were carried out, enrolling 28 representatives of different Portuguese Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), public and private companies, in four different professional fields: Biomedicine, STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Social Sciences, and Humanities. Using Facione's framework for data analysis, results suggest that CT is broadly recognized by employers as a set of interdependent skills and dispositions that are needed in new graduates, presenting slight differences in their practical application across professional fields. This paper also discusses and outlines implications to support universities in the promotion of students' CT skills and dispositions.

Developing optimum solutions to engineering problems typically relies on structured and complex thought processes that require evaluation, interpretation and opinion. Well-developed critical thinking (CT) skills are essential for dealing with the multi-dimensional nature of these problems. CT in an engineering context is well reported in teaching and learning academic literature. However, much of this is framed within theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Practical approaches of how CT skills are best promoted in engineering curricula are less common. A state-of-art review of practical interventions that target the development of CT in engineering students is presented. The review draws on 25 selected peer-reviewed journal articles in established engineering databases and focusses on teaching strategies where their effects in promoting CT skills in students are measured. Considerable variability in the reviewed literature was apparent. CT interventions and strategies are often reported, but metrics of their success in enhancing students' CT is often limited to qualitative, subjective inferences. To more robustly and holistically ensure that CT is clearly embedded in university curricula, there needs to be well-funded research programmes that allow different methods to be developed and trialled over extended periods in higher education engineering programmes.

The use of argumentative strategies that promote the defense of well-grounded personal arguments contributes to the development of a critical, ethical and political thought that leads to responsible and socially committed people. Based on the quality of the produced arguments in philosophical essays, this work evaluates the potential application of a cooperative learning method -- the constructive controversy -- for the development of argumentative skills in secondary school students in philosophy. The quality of the arguments was evaluated through the analysis of a total of 144 philosophical essays produced by the students over a school year. The results point to the advantages of using this method over more traditional ones in the acquisition of argumentative skills.

Considering the results of research on the benefits and difficulties of peer review, this paper describes how teaching faculty, interested in endorsing the acquisition of communication and critical thinking (CT) skills among engineering students, has been implementing a learning methodology throughout online peer review activities. While introducing a new methodology, it is important to weight the advantages found and the conditions that might have restrained the activity outcomes, thereby modulating its overall efficiency. Our results show that several factors are decisive for the success of the methodology: the use of specific and detailed orientation guidelines for CT skills, the students' training on how to deliver a meaningful feedback, the opportunity to counter-argument, the selection of good assignments' examples, and the constant teacher's monitoring of the activity. Results also tackle other aspects of the methodology such as the thinking skills evaluation tools (grades and tests) that most suit our reality. An improved methodology is proposed taking in account the encountered limitations, thus offering the possibility to other interested institutions to use/test and/or improve it.

Background: Given the limited available time of in-service professionals, the balance between the perceived importance of the course content and training needs is essential for the acceptance and attractiveness of training courses aimed at them. Objectives: The goal of the paper is to contribute to the development of entrepreneurship and business training programs for European SME managers. Methods/Approach: In six European countries a survey focusing on SME managers’ views on the importance of individual items from a list of potential course content items, and their training needs was carried out, and followed by an analysis using exploratory and multivariate techniques. It was aimed at identifying homogeneous groups of managers with common training needs and perceptions of content importance. Results: Homogeneous groups of managers who assign the same importance to certain competences and who have common training needs are identified. Conclusions: Results of our research could help training institutions to develop courses aimed at SME managers. The balancing approach proved to be an interesting method of combining conflicting requirements for the training course curriculum development.

The effects of cooperative learning on the promotion of critical thinking skills in college students are well documented, but not in conjunction with critical thinking dispositions. Since there are no studies on this topic in the Portuguese context, our aim is to verify whether cooperative learning using the Jigsaw and Group Investigation methods promote critical and creative thinking skills and dispositions in higher education. It was employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest and posttest using the Critical and Creative Thinking Test (CCT) and the Critical Thinking Dispositions Scale (CTDS) with equivalent groups and a control group. The participants were 106 undergraduate students attending three different classes of the 3rd year of a university in northern Portugal. One class was Pre-service teaching and the others were Psychology undergraduates. The results demonstrate that only the intervention groups had significantly higher scores in the CCT posttest than in the pretest. Regarding dispositions, only the students having experienced the Jigsaw method improved. Implications and pedagogical suggestions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Revista Lusofona de Educacao is the property of Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, CEIEF and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista Lusofona de Educacao is the property of Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, CEIEF and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)