Defining and Measuring Critical Thinking in Engineering

Critical thinking is generally recognized as an important skill, and one that is a primary goal of higher education. However, there is surprisingly little in the literature regarding critical thinking in engineering. This paper describes two pilot studies. A mixed methods study found that graduate engineering students performed worse than undergraduate students on a standard critical thinking instrument. This difference is explained through the two groups’ familiarity with test-taking. In a qualitative study, engineering undergraduates were interviewed about how they use critical thinking. It was found that their descriptions were more complex than typical definitions in the literature. Overall, the results point to a need to further investigate what critical thinking means for engineering.