Research Needed on Critical Thinking

The teaching of critical thinking, long held an important goal of education, is finally being taken seriously in schools, colleges, and universities. However, much research remains to be done on questions that Robert Ennis said over two decades ago were in need of answer. This paper discusses two issues in need of research, the generalizability of critical thinking, and the evaluation of critical thinking ability. Some of the conceptual and empirical work required on these topics is indicated, and it is argued that the combined expertise of philosophers, psychologists, and subject matter specialists is needed to do the work well.