文档介绍：COMPARISON OF CRITICAL THINKING IN UNDERGRADUATES
AND GRADUATES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION
Victoria Zascavage
Xavier University
and
William G. Masten
Jennifer Schroeder-Steward
and
Christopher Nichols
Texas A&M University
This study assessed overall critical thinking ability in graduate and undergraduate students in special education at a southwestern university. parison of the two groups resulted in significant differences on the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Form Short (WGCTA-FS) subscales for Inference, Recognition of Assumption, Deduction, and Total Critical Thinking. Conclusions amalgamate Council for Exceptional Children Standards for a Beginning Special Educator, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the Critical Thinking Scale of the Watson-Glaser- FS. Findings reinforce the need for rigorous mentorship of the novice special educator and direct instruction for the pre service educator in critical thinking through participation in research coursework.
The definition of critical thinking traditionally includes the cognitive strategies used for decision-making, task analysis, and problem solving that result from a mixture of executive functioning skills and metacognitive ability (Elder & Paul, 1994; Cotter, 1992; Morse, 1990; Murray, 1992). The emphasis on critical thinking and rational thought as ponents of the educated mind traces back 2500 years to the teaching of S