Identifying obstacles to transfer of critical thinking skills

Lara M. van Peppen; Tamara van Gog; Peter P.J.L. Verkoeijen; Patricia A. Alexander

doi:10.1080/20445911.2021.1990302

Identifying obstacles to transfer of critical thinking skills

Lara M. van Peppen^*, Tamara van Gog, Peter P.J.L. Verkoeijen, Patricia A. Alexander

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

This study investigated whether unsuccessful transfer of critical thinking (CT) would be due to recognition, recall, or application problems (cf. three-step model of transfer). In two experiments (laboratory: N = 196; classroom: N = 104), students received a CT-skills pretest (including learning, near transfer, and far transfer items), CT-instructions, practice problems, and a CT-skills posttest. On the posttest transfer items, students either (1) received no support, (2) received recognition support, (3) were prompted to recall acquired knowledge, or (4) received recall support. Results showed that CT could be fostered through instruction and practice: we found learning, near transfer, and (albeit small) far transfer performance gains and reduced test-taking time. There were no significant differences between the four support conditions, however, suggesting that the difficulty of transfer of CT-skills lies in problems with application/mapping acquired knowledge onto new tasks. Additionally, exploratory results on free recall data suggested suboptimal recall can be a problem as well.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	261-288
Number of pages	28
Journal	Journal of Cognitive Psychology
Volume	34
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2021.1990302
Publication status	Published - 17 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [grant number: NWO project number 409-15-203]; Stichting Jo Kolk Studiefonds. The authors would like to thank Ilse Hartel–Slager and Marjolein Looijen for their help with running this study, Anita Heijltjes and Eva Janssen for their input on the materials, and the members of the Disciplined Reading & Learning Research Laboratory of the University of Maryland for their input on the discussion.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Funding

This work was supported by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [grant number: NWO project number 409-15-203]; Stichting Jo Kolk Studiefonds. The authors would like to thank Ilse Hartel–Slager and Marjolein Looijen for their help with running this study, Anita Heijltjes and Eva Janssen for their input on the materials, and the members of the Disciplined Reading & Learning Research Laboratory of the University of Maryland for their input on the discussion.

Keywords

Critical thinking
learning
three-step model of transfer
transfer process
unbiased reasoning

Access to Document

10.1080/20445911.2021.1990302Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Identifying obstacles to transfer of critical thinking skillsFinal published version, 3.4 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{71d12b37057d4f78940f365099f8c385,

title = "Identifying obstacles to transfer of critical thinking skills",

abstract = "This study investigated whether unsuccessful transfer of critical thinking (CT) would be due to recognition, recall, or application problems (cf. three-step model of transfer). In two experiments (laboratory: N = 196; classroom: N = 104), students received a CT-skills pretest (including learning, near transfer, and far transfer items), CT-instructions, practice problems, and a CT-skills posttest. On the posttest transfer items, students either (1) received no support, (2) received recognition support, (3) were prompted to recall acquired knowledge, or (4) received recall support. Results showed that CT could be fostered through instruction and practice: we found learning, near transfer, and (albeit small) far transfer performance gains and reduced test-taking time. There were no significant differences between the four support conditions, however, suggesting that the difficulty of transfer of CT-skills lies in problems with application/mapping acquired knowledge onto new tasks. Additionally, exploratory results on free recall data suggested suboptimal recall can be a problem as well.",

keywords = "Critical thinking, learning, three-step model of transfer, transfer process, unbiased reasoning",

author = "{van Peppen}, {Lara M.} and {van Gog}, Tamara and Verkoeijen, {Peter P.J.L.} and Alexander, {Patricia A.}",

note = "Funding Information: This work was supported by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [grant number: NWO project number 409-15-203]; Stichting Jo Kolk Studiefonds. The authors would like to thank Ilse Hartel–Slager and Marjolein Looijen for their help with running this study, Anita Heijltjes and Eva Janssen for their input on the materials, and the members of the Disciplined Reading & Learning Research Laboratory of the University of Maryland for their input on the discussion. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.",

year = "2022",

month = feb,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1080/20445911.2021.1990302",

language = "English",

volume = "34",

pages = "261--288",

journal = "Journal of Cognitive Psychology",

issn = "2044-5911",

publisher = "Taylor and Francis Ltd.",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying obstacles to transfer of critical thinking skills

AU - van Peppen, Lara M.

AU - van Gog, Tamara

AU - Verkoeijen, Peter P.J.L.

AU - Alexander, Patricia A.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was supported by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research [grant number: NWO project number 409-15-203]; Stichting Jo Kolk Studiefonds. The authors would like to thank Ilse Hartel–Slager and Marjolein Looijen for their help with running this study, Anita Heijltjes and Eva Janssen for their input on the materials, and the members of the Disciplined Reading & Learning Research Laboratory of the University of Maryland for their input on the discussion. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

PY - 2022/2/17

Y1 - 2022/2/17

N2 - This study investigated whether unsuccessful transfer of critical thinking (CT) would be due to recognition, recall, or application problems (cf. three-step model of transfer). In two experiments (laboratory: N = 196; classroom: N = 104), students received a CT-skills pretest (including learning, near transfer, and far transfer items), CT-instructions, practice problems, and a CT-skills posttest. On the posttest transfer items, students either (1) received no support, (2) received recognition support, (3) were prompted to recall acquired knowledge, or (4) received recall support. Results showed that CT could be fostered through instruction and practice: we found learning, near transfer, and (albeit small) far transfer performance gains and reduced test-taking time. There were no significant differences between the four support conditions, however, suggesting that the difficulty of transfer of CT-skills lies in problems with application/mapping acquired knowledge onto new tasks. Additionally, exploratory results on free recall data suggested suboptimal recall can be a problem as well.

AB - This study investigated whether unsuccessful transfer of critical thinking (CT) would be due to recognition, recall, or application problems (cf. three-step model of transfer). In two experiments (laboratory: N = 196; classroom: N = 104), students received a CT-skills pretest (including learning, near transfer, and far transfer items), CT-instructions, practice problems, and a CT-skills posttest. On the posttest transfer items, students either (1) received no support, (2) received recognition support, (3) were prompted to recall acquired knowledge, or (4) received recall support. Results showed that CT could be fostered through instruction and practice: we found learning, near transfer, and (albeit small) far transfer performance gains and reduced test-taking time. There were no significant differences between the four support conditions, however, suggesting that the difficulty of transfer of CT-skills lies in problems with application/mapping acquired knowledge onto new tasks. Additionally, exploratory results on free recall data suggested suboptimal recall can be a problem as well.

KW - Critical thinking

KW - learning

KW - three-step model of transfer

KW - transfer process

KW - unbiased reasoning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85119453092&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/20445911.2021.1990302

DO - 10.1080/20445911.2021.1990302

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85119453092

SN - 2044-5911

VL - 34

SP - 261

EP - 288

JO - Journal of Cognitive Psychology

JF - Journal of Cognitive Psychology

IS - 2

ER -

Identifying obstacles to transfer of critical thinking skills

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this