Assessing development in critical thinking: One institution's experience

Objective: Enhancing critical and moral thinking are goals of higher education. We sought to examine thinking development within a Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) program. Methods: The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT), and the Defining Issues Test (DIT2) were administered to Pharm.D. students over four sessions throughout their didactic studies. Students took tests in their P1 Fall, P1 Spring, P2 Spring, and P3 Spring. While CCTST and HSRT are similar for assessing foundational critical thinking, the DIT2 assesses complex moral thinking. Each thinking test was correlated with academic success by undergraduate and graduate grade-point averages (GPAs). Results: The CCTST was administered in P1 Fall (20.1 ± 5.0). For HSRT, mean ± S.D. was P1 Spring: 22.7 ± 3.5, P2 Spring: 22.6 ± 4.8, and P3 Spring: 23.8 ± 4.5. After converting P1-CCTST and P2-HSRT scores using user-manual interpretations, there was no difference on paired comparison (P = 0.22, 0.1 Cohen's d). There was a small difference between P1-HSRT and P3-HSRT (P < 0.01, 0.2 Cohen's d). Also administered each time, the DIT2 was P1 Fall: 40.4 ± 12.6, P1 Spring: 36.3 ± 13.7, P2 Spring: 44.9 ± 13.6, and P3 Spring: 43.4 ± 15.4. For DIT2, both P1 Fall to P2 Spring and P1 Spring to P3 Spring were significant with small and medium effect-sizes (both P < 0.01, 0.4 and 0.5 Cohen's d respectively). Importantly, multiple HSRT, and DIT2 assessments correlated with undergraduate and graduate GPAs. Conclusions: During a Pharm.D. program of study, students developed substantially in moral reasoning though minimally in foundational critical thinking. Both foundational and moral reasoning correlated with academic success. Showing responsiveness to change, the DIT2 appears helpful as a measure of cognitive development for pharmacy education.