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Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research pp 41–92Cite as

A Model of Critical Thinking in Higher Education

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Part of the book series: Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research ((HATR,volume 30))

Abstract

There has been no shortage of definitions of the concept of “critical thinking” over the years and the concept has been subject to much detailed scholarly work. In social and educational terms critical thinking is an important topic. Of late, critical thinking has also been widely discussed in the popular media, and the concept has been regarded as one of the most important graduate outcomes expected of a university education. However, despite this, scholars have yet to arrive at a holistic conception of critical thinking—a model of critical thinking as it were—that might usefully underpin the range of considerations about critical thinking that occur in the higher education literature. This paper: (1) reviews the various definitions and approaches to critical thinking, and (2) incorporates them into a single, coherent model. A number of disagreements in critical thinking scholarship are outlined as ‘axis disputes’ arising from the proposed model.

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  1. Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, 234 Queensbury Street, Carlton, VIC, Australia

    Martin Davies Ph.D.

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  1. Dept. of Educ. Policy and Leadership Stud., The University of Iowa, N491 Lindquist Center, Iowa City, Iowa, USA

    Michael B. Paulsen

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Davies, M. (2015). A Model of Critical Thinking in Higher Education. In: Paulsen, M. (eds) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol 30. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12835-1_2

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