Critical Thinking Assessment Tool

• Choose a population that you believe should use critical thinking.
• Develop a tool, for this specific population, that you can use to assess or measure the cognitive habits or behaviors that are part of the critical thinking process that this population uses.

For example – a novice nurse entering the nursing profession, an experienced nurse working on a new unit, parents of a child with a chronic illness, a patient who has a new diagnosis of diabetes or heart disease and must learn to self-manage the disease.

• Use Box 2-5 and appendix A to choose which cognitive habits and behaviors you decide to measure.

The tool should include:

• A total of eight questions, each addressing a specific cognitive habit or behavior.
• A rationale for each question – why that question can measure that specific cognitive habit or behavior.

Introduce your tool with a discussion of the importance of cognitive habits or behaviors that encourage critical thinking. Provide a conclusion to pull the entire activity together. 

Here is an example of one question you can ask when assessing the critical thinking skills of minority parents of overweight children.

Question: How do you feel about your child’s overall health? Your family’s health?

Rationale: This question is assessing the critical thinking skill or habit of the mind: contextual perspective. Assessing how the parents feel about their family’s overall health would give the nurse a view of their contextual perspective. Parents who are cognizant of their children’s or overall family’s weight issues, poor eating habits, or lack of exercise can result in the potential consequences of childhood obesity such as hypertension, asthma, and diabetes. (Rubenfeld & Scheffer, 2015).

Question

Rationale

How do you feel about your child’s overall health? Your family’s health?

This question is assessing the critical thinking skill or habit of the mind: contextual perspective. Assessing how the parents feel about their family’s overall health would give the nurse a view of their contextual perspective. Parents who are cognizant of their children’s or overall family’s weight issues, poor eating habits, or lack of exercise can result in the potential consequences of childhood obesity such as hypertension, asthma, and diabetes. (Rubenfeld & Scheffer, 2015).

Reading and Resources

Read Chapters 1 & 2 In Rubenfeld, M. G., & Scheffer, B.K. (2015). Critical thinking TACTICS for nurses: Achieving the IOM competencies (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.

Complete Critical Thinking Habits of the Mind (Appendix A, Critical Thinking Inventory, p. 341-356) in the textbook. This assessment will help you reflect upon and consider your own critical thinking skills and find your strengths and areas needing improvement. 

Read Whiffin, C. J., & Hasselder, A. (2013). Making the link between critical appraisal, thinking and analysis. British Journal of Nursing, 22(14), 831–835.

Additional Instructions:

1. All submissions should have a title page and reference page.
2. Utilize a minimum of two scholarly resources.
3. Adhere to grammar, spelling and punctuation criteria.
4. Adhere to APA compliance guidelines.
5. Adhere to the chosen Submission Option for Delivery of Activity guidelines.

Submission Options:

Choose One:

Instructions:

Paper

• 3 to 4-page paper. Include title and reference pages.