Critical Thinking in the Chemistry Classroom and Beyond

The success of chemistry depends on good experimental practice and proper chemical statements. While students receive a thorough training in research techniques, learn to assess the quality of their results, and discuss possible implications, they rarely learn to explicitly evaluate the validity of statements. Student questionnaires have shown that few students are able to recognize and comment upon logical structures "hidden" in chemical statements. A follow-up questionnaire has also indicated that the same students occasionally misunderstand the reasoning of textbook statements. As a consequence, undergraduate chemistry cirricula could be improved if chemists were trained more explicitly in critical thinking. Teaching logic in a chemical context is possible, although it is difficult to connect it to pre-existing student knowledge.