Motivating Factors Related to Critical Thinking
Students were asked to rate the influence of nine motivating factors on their choice to use CT skills. They rated the skills on a four-point Likert-style scale. The order in which students identified motivating factors for use of CT skills was (from most to least popular):
- I believe that strong CT skills will help me in my future career.
- I believe in thinking critically about important topics.
- I believe in thinking critically about what I read and hear.
- I believe that strong CT skills will help me to succeed in a future degree program (for example, a master’s degree, law degree, medical degree, or Ph.D.).
- I have learned to appreciate CT through experiences that I have outside of school (for example, in my social life, while writing or pursuing other creative hobbies, or while reading/watching media related to personal interests).
- My instructors require CT as part of assignments and/or give points specifically for CT.
- It is easy and/or natural for me to use CT skills now.
- My classmates’ performance in class or study sessions inspires me to use my CT skills.
- Other students (classmates, friends, peer tutors, etc.) have recommended that I use CT skills on my assignments.
Motivating Factors Related to Critical Thinking | ||
Motivating Factor | Mean Score | Standard Deviation of Scores |
I believe that strong critical thinking skills will help me in my future career. | 3.83 | 0.38 |
I believe in thinking critically about important topics. | 3.79 | 0.41 |
I believe in thinking critically about what I read and hear. | 3.75 | 0.44 |
I believe that strong critical thinking skills will help me to succeed in a future degree program (for example, a master’s degree, law degree, medical degree, or Ph.D.). | 3.71 | 0.55 |
I have learned to appreciate I have learned to appreciate critical thinking through experiences that I have outside of school (for example, in my social life, while writing or pursuing other creative hobbies, or while reading/watching media related to personal interests). | 3.67 | 0.56 |
My professors require critical thinking as part of assignments and/or give points specifically for critical thinking. | 3.58 | 0.58 |
It is easy and/or natural for me to use critical thinking skills now. | 3.33 | 0.76 |
My classmates’ performance in class or study sessions inspires me to use my critical thinking skills. | 2.83 | 0.96 |
Other students (classmates, friends, peer tutors, etc.) have recommended that I use critical thinking skills on my assignments. | 2.54 | 0.98 |
Note. Scores were presented to students as follows: (a) “very true for me” = 4 points, (b) “somewhat true for me” = 3 points, (c) “somewhat untrue for me” = 2 points, and (d) “Not at all true for me” = 1 point.
Note. Mean scores and standard deviations have been rounded to two decimal points in order to make small differences in scores apparent. |