Redefining Critical Thinking: Teaching Students to Think like Scientists

. Unfortunately, the definition of CT has become so broad that it can encompass nearly anything and everything (e.g., From discussion of Foucault, critique and the self We propose that educators need to clearly define CT, and that in addition to teaching CT, a strong focus should be placed on teaching students how to think like scientists. Scientific thinking is the ability to generate, test, and evaluate claims, data, and theories (e.g., Simply stated, the basic tenets of scientific thinking provide students with the tools to distinguish good information from bad. Students have access to nearly limitless information, and the skills to understand what is misinformation or a questionable scientific claim is crucially important