Preparing students to be able to think critically is a goal of many professionals in higher education, which is also a quality sought by most employers of university graduates (Sulaiman, Rahman, & Dzulkifli, 2008). Under Thailand 4.0, critical thinking skills are stated to be a key pillar in the goal for a new, knowledge- based economy (Jones & PimdeePaitoon, 2017). Unfortunately however, a recent evaluation of logical thinking and analytical skills of 6,235 students by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF), determined that only 2.09% could pass the test (Rujivanarom, 2016). Plato, nearly 2,500 years ago in his discussions of logic, indicated that critical thinking is the tool that helps individuals find the answer or solution to a person’s confusion and problems (Thayer-Bacon, 1998). Socrates, Plato’s teacher, emphasized discussion and critical thinking with knowledge residing in the mind of the individual, rather than the “‘teacher”’ transmitting knowledge to the student (Ornstein & Levine, 2006). In a contemporary sense, the evidence of the importance of critical thinking skills for employment came from the survey data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, 2016) which indicated that critical thinking/problem- solving skills were ranked first among the 144 employers surveyed (Table 1). This is also consistent with research from Bassham, Irwin, Nardone, and Wallace (2013), which indicated that college education is for the development of critical thinking skills, which in turn leads to higher-order thinking. This is also consistent with Costa and Kallick’s (2014) study, which stated that critical thinking skills are consistently included in all lists of dispositional essentials for college and career readiness.
Keywords: nanAusubel, D. P., Novak, J. D., & Hanesian, H. (1976). Educational Psychology: A Cognitive View. (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.
Barrington, L., Casner-Lotto, J., & Wright, M. (2006). Are they really ready to work?: Employers’ perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st Century U.S. workforce. Place of publication: The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/j2c5uh6
Bassham, G., Irwin, W., Nardone, H., & Wallace, J. M. (2013). Critical thinking: A student`s introduction (5th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Bruner, J. S. (1961). The act of discovery. Harvard Educational Review, 31, 21 – 32.
Bruner, J. S. (1976). The process of education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Conley, D. T. (2008, February 8). Toward a more comprehensive conception of college readiness. Place of publication: Educational Policy Improvement Center. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mg69mv5
Costa, A., & Kallick,. B. (2014). Dispositions: Reframing teaching and learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16(3), 297 – 334. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf02310555
Dewey, J. (1910). How we think. Boston: D. C. Heath & Co. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/l6q46mq
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Council of the European Union & European CommissionEuropean Union. (2015). 2015 joint report of the council and commission on the Implementation of strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020): New priorities for European cooperation in education and training. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/zctcbre
Geertsen, H. R. (2003). Rethinking Thinking about Higher-Level Thinking. Teaching Sociology, 31(1), 1–-19. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/nyhb6qr
Halpern, D. F. (1993). Assessing the effectiveness of critical thinking instruction. The Journal of General Education, 42(4), 238 – 254.
Heick, T. (2014. February 27). Are you teaching content or teaching thought? Retrieved from
http://tinyurl.com/ktacc5n
Jacobs, H. H. (eEd.). (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Virginia: ASCD.
Jho, H., Hong, O., & Song, A. J. (2016). An analysis of STEM/STEAM teacher education in Korea with a case study of two schools from a community of practice perspective. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 12(7), 1843 –1862. http://dx.doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2016.1538a
Johnson, D., & Johnson, R. (1994). Leading the cooperative school. Place of publication: Interactions Book Company.
Jones, C., & Pimdee, P. (2017). Innovative ideas: Thailand 4.0 and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Asian International Journal of Social Sciences, 17(1), 4 – 35. https://doi.org/10.29139/aijss.20170101
Leesa-nguansuk, S. (2015, November 23). Chiang Mai University is at the forefront among educational institutions in adopting digital technology in the classroom. Bangkok Post. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/lkfcovk
McPeck, J. E. (1981). Critical thinking and education. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.
National Association of Colleges and EmployersNACE. (2016, Sep. ember 28). Class of 2016 believes it is “Ccareer Ready,” but is it? National of Colleges and Employers. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/ya8a559g
National Education Association. (2011). Preparing 21st century students for a global society: An educator’s guide to the “four Cs”. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mttg8wz
Ng, A. K. (2001). Why Asians are less creative than Westerners. Singapore: Prentice-Hall.
Novak, J. D. (2011). A theory of education: Meaningful learning underlies the constructive integration of thinking, feeling, and acting learning to empowerment for commitment and responsibility. Meaningful Learning Review, 1(2), 1 – 14. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/k5f8xuy
OECD/UNESCO. (2016). Education in Thailand: An OECD-UNESCO perspective. Reviews of national policies for education., Paris: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/ml6nufq
Ornstein, A. C., & Levine, D. U. (2006). Foundations of Education (8th ed.). Boston. MA: Houghton Mifflin.
Phuapan, P., Viriyavejakul, C., & Pimdee, P. (2016). An analysis of digital literacy skills among Thai university seniors. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.3991/ijet.v11i03.5301
Piaget, J. (1970). Science of education and the psychology of the child. New York, NY: Orion Press.
Praparpun, Y. (2012). Developing Ramkhamhaeng University history of economic development of Southeast Asia (EC 3902) students’ critical thinking skills. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/ybvxcp7p
Reeve, E. M. (2016). 21st century skills needed by students in technical and vocational Education and training (TVET). Asian International Journal of Social Sciences, 16(4), 65 – 82. https://doi.org/10.29139/aijss.20160404
Rujivanarom, P. (2016, December 14). The school system’s failure to teach logical thinking is linked to low PISA scores. The Nation. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/l68ugux
Schroeder, A., Minocha, S., & Schneider, C. (2010). The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of using social software in higher and further education teaching and learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(3), 159–174.
Snedecor, G. W., & Cochran, W. G. (1989). Statistical Methods. Iowa: Iowa State University Press.
Sternberg, R. J. (1997). A triarchic view of giftedness: Theory and practice. In N. Coleangelo & G. A. Davis (Eds.), Handbook of Gifted Education (pp. 43–53). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Sternberg, R. J., Forsythe, G. B., Hedlund, J., Horvath, J., Snook, S., & Williams, W. M. (2000). Practical intelligence in everyday life. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Sulaiman, W. S. W., Rahman, W. R. A., & Dzulkifli, M. A. (2008). Relationship between critical thinking dispositions, perceptions towards teachers, learning approaches and critical thinking skills among university students. The Journal of Behavioral Science, 3(1), 122 – 133. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/kdeqylg
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (2001). Using Multivariate sStatistics. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Thaiposri, P., & Wannapiroon, P. (2015). Enhancing students’ critical thinking skills through teaching and learning by inquiry-based learning activities using social network and cloud computing. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 174, 2137 – 2144. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/med4g9y
Thayer-Bacon, B. J. (1998). Transforming and redescribing critical thinking: Constructive thinking. Studies in Philosophy and Education 17(2), 123–148. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1005166416808
Thayer-Bacon, B. J. (2000). Transforming Critical Thinking: Thinking Constructively. Place of publication: Teachers` College Press.
Vijayaratnam, P. (2009). Cooperative learning as a means to developing students’ critical and creative thinking skills. Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference of Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mtjkwky
Vygotsky, L. S. (1930). Mind and Society. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/lxspuy6
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. M. Cole, M., V. John-Steiner, V., S. Scribner, S., & E. Souberman, E. (Eds.)., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wichadee, S. (2014). Students` learning behavior, motivation and critical thinking in learning management systems. Journal of Educators Online, 11(3). Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/n5n5ccv
Wood, D. J., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology, 17(2), 89 – 100.
World Bank. (2014). Vietnam development report 2014 – Skilling up Vietnam: Preparing the workforce for a modern market economy. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/gu37tt5