Critical thinking skills include interpretation of an existing problem (whether easy or difficult) or a case (whether simple or intricate), deduction, analytic explanation and assessment.

Whilst carrying out lectures & preparing exams, the instructor will serve the best interests of the students by keeping in mind that these skills ought to be tested. There has to be a "combination" of various means to this end. For example: I do not agree with those instructors who give total multiple choice exams that can be easily corrected. The exams will better also contain "Fill in the Blanks", "Matching Columns","True/False", "Account for", "Compare & Contrast" and "Explain". These types of questions will match the future problems which the students will face upon going to a career or to the market.

Critical thining is a process of comoaring and contrasting teo (or more) things.  It is often best done in writing so that ideas in one's head are described in fixed terms on the page.

The attached document offers a process for assessing critical thinking in writing.

Data Content Analysis of Critical Thinking

You can use team debates and students get really competitive when these are done asynchronously as they have more time to research their contributions and rebuttals. The attached gives an example of the success with this approach that I hope would be helpful for you.

Best regards,

Debra

Conference Paper Debating: A Dynamic Teaching Strategy for Motivating Student...

Recommended post as usual dear Dr, Debra Sharon Ferdinand-James, I do agree with your comment and thank you so much for sharing this conference paper.

Regards, Emad

Thanks for all colleagues who contribute and comment the different articles .

Best Regards

Hi 

The website of " The Critical Thinking Community " provides the following valuable tips for assessing critical thinking .The following instruments are available to generate evidence relevant to critical thinking teaching and learning:

1Course Evaluation Form:provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students perceive faculty as fostering critical thinking in instruction (course by course). Machine scoreable.

2.Critical Thinking Subtest: Analytic Reasoning:provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students are able to reason analytically. Machine scoreable (currently being developed).

3.Critical Thinking: Concepts and Understandings:provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students understand the fundamental concepts embedded in critical thinking (and hence tests student readiness to think critically). Machine scoreable

4.Fair-mindedness Test: provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students can reason effectively between conflicting view points (and hence tests student ability to identify strong and weak arguments for conflicting positions in reasoning). Machine scoreable. (currently being developed).

 5.Critical Thinking Reading and Writing Test:Provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students can read closely and write substantively (and hence tests student ability to read and write critically). Short Answer.

6.International Critical Thinking Test:provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students are able to analyze and assess excerpts from textbooks or professional writing. Short Answer.

7.Commission Study Protocol for Interviewing Faculty Regarding Critical Thinking: provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, critical thinking is being taught at a college or university (Can be adapted for High School). Based on theCalifornia Commission Study. Short Answer.

8.Foundation for Critical ThinkingProtocol for Interviewing Faculty Regarding Critical Thinking: provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, critical thinking is being taught at a college or university (Can be adapted for High School). Short Answer

9.Foundation for Critical ThinkingProtocol for Interviewing Students Regarding Critical Thinking: provides evidence of whether, and to what extent, students are learning to think critically at a college or university (Can be adapted for High School). Short Answer. 

10.Criteria for critical thinking assignments.  Can be used by faculty in designing classroom assignments or by administrators in assessing the extent to which faculty are fostering critical thinking.

11.Rubrics for assessing student reasoning abilities. A useful tool in assessing the extent to which students are reasoning well through course content.   

All of the above assessment instruments can be used as part of pre- and post- assessment strategies to gauge development over various time periods.

Hello Kirk - I liked this 'Creative and Critical Thinking' learning continuum from the Australian Curriculum, spelling out different expectations from 5 to 16 year olds (see link below).

Note some of the sub-elements - which apply as much to undergraduate or doctoral level study as to school students:

- Organise and process information

- Imagine possibilities and connect ideas

- Consider alternatives

- Apply logic and reasoning

- Draw conclusions and design a course of action.

Overall, the statement 'Uses logical and abstract reasoning to analyse and synthesise complex information' sums up pretty nicely what educators are looking to achieve working with learners at any level!

Hope this helps.    Peter

https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/1072/general-capabilities-creative-and-critical-thinking-learning-continuum.pdf

While many of the answers seem to contain useful points, perhaps it would be appropriate to add a dialogic dimension to the approach to assessment of critical thinking . In this step, a student's draft statement of a possible analysis of a problem is shared with two or three others, who respond constructively, but also identify possible limitations of the draft analysis. This step may provoke the original student to creatively respond by extension of the original analysis. In my view, it would be a mistake to think of critical thought as the accomplishment of a single individual, or to assess its development entirely outside any social/dialogic context. The responses of a student as he or she engages in appraising the draft of another should also be examined. Courageous yet charitable engagement across differences is an essential part of critical thought, otherwise it degenerates into negativity and point-scoring.

best wishes,

Robert Young.