Journal of Education & Social Policy

Critical Thinking and Its Assessment: A Literature Review with Special Reference in Greece and Cyprus
Giorgos K. Fountzoulas, Maria I. Koutsouba, Evgenia Nikolaki

Abstract
Critical thinking as a cognitive process refers to the critical thinking skills of a conscious person who explores a situation or a problem from different perspectives. In order to measure this cognitive process and skills many tools have been established. However, the accurate assessment of critical thinking skills depends on the instruments’ properties being invariant or similar across cultural, ageing and other groups. For this reason, qualitative and quantitative assessments methods have been proposed and used. The aim of this study is to explore the concept of critical thinking and to present the critical thinking assessment tools used worldwide with special reference in Greece and Cyprus. For this purpose, literature-based research methodology was adopted that included analysis and evaluation of relevant published literature. The literature review showed that though many tools have been introduced for measuring critical thinking skills only thirteen of them have undergone the processes of validity and credibility procedures worldwide. Moreover, these thirteen tools include both qualitative and quantitative research methods, with qualitative ones to prevail. Finally, in Greece and Cyprus, the research of critical thinking and the assessment of critical thinking skills is a new established field and only few researches have been conducted using structured tools.

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