No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

In our increasingly knowledge-oriented economy (Powell & Snellman, 2004), employers and government leaders have expressed substantial interest in the notion of "21st century skills," which include critical thinking skills among others (Pellegrino & Hilton, 2015). Business trends toward evidence-based decision making (Buluswar & Reeves, 2014) and the advent of the Big Data movement (Putka & Oswald, 2015) also point to the increasing importance of the critical thinking skill set. For example, Casner-Lotto and Barrington (2006) found that among 400 surveyed employers, 92.1% identified critical thinking/ problem-solving as being very important in shaping 4-year college graduates' success in today's workforce, and critical thinking was also considered important for high school and 2-year college graduates. More recently, a survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U, 2011) found that 81% of employers wanted colleges to place a stronger emphasis on critical thinking. Consistent with this expressed need, several standardized critical thinking tests have been developed (Ennis, Mill