Introduction

The main objective of educators is to shape their students’ thinking so they grow into well-rounded, thoughtful adults who can think critically, make informed decisions, and succeed in whichever career path they choose. Even though critical thinking is already present in children in early childhood years, secondary and tertiary education students are at an age in which their neurological development and critical thinking skills can be optimized.  It is thus crucial that educators for all levels are specialists in encouraging and developing the critical thinking skills of their students.

During the 21 century critical thinking skills have become more important than ever before as these skills are needed to maintain a successful career, especially as automation, artificial intelligence, globalization, and big data are transforming all industries. To survive and to succeed in a heavily information-based economy, students need skills beyond those traditionally tested in the classroom to distinguish between relevant and irrelevant information. These skills include critical thinking on various levels.

Bearing this in mind, this study will firstly establish what the business world expects from its employees in terms of critical thinking skills. The second part includes a review of what critical thinking is as described by researchers since the early 90’s when technology became more available to educators and students. In the third part of the study the neurological process of critical thinking in the human brain is discussed before the question about how artificial intelligence can enhance or harm a student’s ability to assess a situation is addressed.

Literature Review and Reflection

What do Businesses Say About CT Skills?

The first aim of this literature review includes a short summary on the perspective of businesses on the most important skills needed in the business world.

The World Economic Forum states that the three main skills for the future are analytical, creative, and technological skills. Skills development initiatives should promote the development of employees’ analytical, creative, problem-solving, technological, and critical thinking abilities within the retail sector. Industry requires the following employees’ skills and competencies for the future: design thinking, coaching and mentoring, servant leadership, strategy and future thinking, collaboration, business intelligence, cultural intelligence, agility, innovation, creativity & critical thinking, and merchandise skills. Data interpretation, data mining, critical thinking and Leadership. combination of technical skills, customer service expertise, data analysis capabilities, adaptability, critical thinking, and supply chain knowledge will be well-positioned to succeed in the future of the retail sector (Li, 2022).

According to the Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W&R SETA, 2024) and other SETA’s requirements, educators will be required to develop the following skills of their students at the Basic Education level:

• Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving: This skill is essential for students to develop their ability to analyze, evaluate, and solve problems. It teaches them to think logically, consider multiple perspectives, and make informed decisions.

Research reports from well-known companies and organisations including Forbes (Hamilton, 2024 & Wells, 2023), Pearson (Blackmore et.al.; 2016), and the World Bank (Ferreyra et.al., 2023) all point to the same conclusion, namely that employers highly value employees with skills such as:

• critical thinking abilities
• creativity
• collaboration
• self-sufficiency

It is, therefore, crucial to include these skills in all secondary and tertiary institutions.

What do Educators Say About CT Skills?

The following literature review presents the concept of critical thinking with a review on the opinions of educators on this topic from 1990 to 2020.

1990 – Critical Thinking Characteristics.

According to a study by Facione (1990) a consensus was reached by researchers and teachers, participating in an American Philosophical Association’s Delphi project on the definition of CT. They determined that a critical thinker would possess the following characteristics:

• inquisitiveness,
• fair-mindedness,
• flexibility,
• diligence, and
• focus on enquiry.

1994 – Critical Thinking can be measured.

Facione and Facione (1994) developed a four-level scoring rubric to assess the level of CT skills as applied, called ‘Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric’. It does not enable an institution to compare students’ results with national norms, but is based on extensive research on assessing CT.

The scoring is on a four-point scale (4: Strong; 3: Acceptable; 2: Unacceptable; 1: Weak) and is used to assess the following skills: –

• Interpreting evidence, statements, graphics, questions, etc.
• Identifying the salient arguments’ (reasons and claims) pro and con.
• Analysing and evaluating major alternative points of view.
• Drawing warranted, judicious, and non-fallacious conclusions.
• Justifying key results and procedures and explains assumptions and reasons.
• Following evidence and reason.

1997 -Critical thinking taxonomy

Furthermore Halpern (1997) proposed a taxonomy of CT skills as a guide for instruction, which consists of the five main skills listed below:

• Verbal reasoning skills: This category includes those skills needed to comprehend and defend against the persuasive techniques that are embedded in everyday language.
• Argument analysis skills: An argument is a set of statements with at least one conclusion and one reason that supports the conclusion.
• Skills in thinking as hypothesis testing: The rationale for this category is that people function similar to intuitive scientists who explain, predict, and control events.
• Likelihood and uncertainty: Because very few events in life can be known with certainty, the correct use of cumulative, exclusive, and contingent probabilities should play a critical role in almost every decision.
• Decision-making and problem-solving skills: In some sense, all CT skills are used to make decisions and solve problems, but the ones that are included here involve generating and selecting alternatives and judging among them. Creative thinking is subsumed under this category because of its importance in generating alternatives and restating problems and goals. (Halpern,1997)

1998 -2000 – Students Can Master Critical Thinking

During this timeframe, most researchers agreed that CT refers to the use of cognitive skills or strategies and that through teaching and coaching, students can master CT (Fisher 1998; Halpern 1999; Pithers & Soden 2000).

2000 – Critical Thinking is Enhanced by Collaboration.

In addition, MacKnight (2000) confirmed that teaching CT through online discussions is an important strategy in advancing teaching and learning in electronic forums. He stated that online discussions offer the potential for collaboration and increased participation in the learning process, as well as reflection, peer tutoring, and monitoring of student learning as it occurs as an extension of classroom learning.

MacKnight suggested the following steps that are useful to support online discussions:

• Maintain a focused discussion.
• Keep the discussion intellectually responsible.
• Stimulate the discussion by asking questions that hold students accountable for their thinking.
• Infuse these questions in the mind of students.
• Encourage full participation.
• Periodically review what has been done or needs to be done.

2002 – Critical Thinking – Four Questions to Ask

Fuiks and Clark (2002) agree on the ability to teach and learn CT skills; however, they disagreed about the following questions related to teaching and learning CT skills:

• Where should CT skills be taught?
• Which CT skills should be taught?
• How should CT skills be taught and assessed?
• Can technology promote students’ CT skills?

These four questions are important to focus and organise CT in context and can be used as a framework for planning teaching critical thinking.

Where Should CT Skills Be Taught?

• Teach CT in specific courses
• Coach CT in general course
• Apply CT for all courses and application

Which Skills Should Be Taught?

In Facione’s taxonomy (1990, p.12), CT is composed of six main skills, each containing sub-skills, as indicated below:

• Interpretation: Categorisation • Decoding significance • Clarifying meaning
• Analysis: Examining ideas • Identifying arguments • Analysing arguments
• Evaluation: Assessing claims • Assessing arguments
• Inference: Querying evidence. • Conjecturing alternatives • Drawing conclusions
• Explanation: Stating results • Justifying procedures • Presenting arguments
• Self-regulation: Self-examination • Self-correction

How Should CT Skills Be Taught and Addressed?

CT begins with students’ engagement with a problem. For example, Kurfiss (1988, p. 2) defined CT as ‘an investigation whose purpose is to explore a situation, phenomenon, question, or problem to arrive at a hypothesis or conclusion about it that integrates all available information and that can therefore be convincingly justified.’

Furthermore, Paul (1992, p. 1) states that CT is ‘the intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analysing, synthesising, and/or evaluating information gathered from, or generated by observation, experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication as a rubric to belief and action’.  Paul and Elder (2006, p. 4) expand on this point of view by defining CT as ‘the art of analysing and evaluating thinking with a 22 view to improve it’. These definitions indicate that CT is the ability to apply cognitive skills, such as analysing, applying, and evaluating when thinking.

Can Technology Promote Students’ CT Skills?

The importance of this question needs to be highlighted in the context of the study. The question is partially the answered under the 2018 – Critical thinking essential- can be improved by teaching materials section.

2005 – Critical Thinking Can Be Taught

Gelder (2005) explained that CT skills can be taught in the same way that other cognitive skills are taught.

Gelder claimed that knowing the theory of CT and its related concepts and by practicing these skills in real situations, and then transferring these CT skills to different situations made students critical thinkers. Researchers appeared to agree (Facione, 1990; Halpren,1999; Kuhn,1999; Pithers & Soden 2000.)

2012 – Critical Thinking Should Be a Perspective And Not a Judgement

Adeyemi (2012) stated: “As may be observed, critical thinking is about being both willing and able to evaluate one’s thinking and could be effected through the teaching and learning of any subject on the school curriculum’.

He also says that “developing critical thinking skills in students, involves learning the art of suspending judgement (for example, when reading a novel, watching a movie, engaging in dialogical/dialectical reasoning).”

He further elaborates by saying that “to do this successfully, one should adopt a perspective rather than judgmental orientation; that is, avoiding moving from perception to judgment as one applies critical thinking to issues” (Adeyemi; 2012).

2014 – Critical Thinking – Framework

According to Miles, Huberman, and Salana (2014), a conceptual framework is an analytical tool with several variations and contexts. It is used to create conceptual distinctions and organised ideas. Miles Huberman and Salana (2014) note that there are four main debates among researchers in the field of teaching CT skills. They suggest that four concepts will contribute to the creation of a critical thinking conceptual framework. These concepts are presented as four debates: Debate 1. Where should CT skills be taught? : Debate 2: Which CT skills should be taught?, Debate 3: How should CT skills be taught and assessed and Debate 4: Can technology provide students with CT skills?

2018 – Critical Thinking Essential – Can Be Improved by Teaching Materials

Critical thinking is an essential skill which needs to be developed by lecturers. Numerous occurrences in everyday life require critical analysis. Therefore, it is imperative for lecturers to foster this ability during the educational process by developing teaching materials that enhance students’ critical thinking skills, enabling them to apply these competencies both in academic settings and within the broader community (Setyowati, Sari, & Habibah; 2018).

Technology can be used for this learning process with the following approach:

• Without instruction – Intuitively follow hyper text
• With direct instruction – Individual learning: Webbased (Online) – Self reflection
• With indirect instruction – Collaborative learning: Online discussion – Peer review

2020 – Critical Thinking Needs Innovative Methods When Teaching With Technology

In the conclusion of Alsaleh’s (2020) review of 150 studies he stipulates that thus far teaching approaches tended to focus on subject content rather than CT development. The results indicate a gap in teaching CT skills in terms of innovative methods and particularly in the use of new technologies. He also highlights the need for further research that investigates new approaches for teaching CT skills.

This means that critical thinking skills need to be taught to students by including learning experiences where students intuitively find their way through a problem, by partial instruction for individual learning and full instruction for collaborative learning. The researcher leans towards adding the four questions as presented by Fuiks and Clark (2002) for planning a CT learning experience. These questions include the where, how, when, and can technology be used for CT?

These questions are also relevant for a better understanding of the anatomical and neurological processes of critical thinking in human intelligence.

Before we continue with the question of how CT can be taught most effectively the CT neurological positioning in the brain is discussed for a deeper understanding on where and how they are processed.

What Does Human Anatomy Say About CT?

From the perspective of human anatomy critical thinking is situated in the prefrontal cortex. When placing one’s hand on your forehead (as if you have a headache) – the area behind your hand is where your prefrontal cortex is located. The prefrontal cortex regulates our thoughts, emotions and actions through extensive connections to other neural structures.

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for executive functions such as problem-solving, planning, decision-making, and regulating emotions. It is also crucial for developing the critical thinking skills for students that we aim to promote in the classrooms.

• As this part of the brain is the last to fully mature, adolescence is a key time to engage students in critical thinking articles and informational texts that challenge their perspectives and promote deep thinking practices.
• During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex both grows in a process called myelination and shrinks in a process called pruning.

Myelination

• New neural networks form when we repeat activities and link ideas. In a process called myelination, fatty “myelin sheaths” insulate connecting neurons to increase the speed and efficiency of the flow of information from one neural region to another. While myelination begins early in life and continues into adulthood, the production of myelin sheaths escalates during adolescence. Because myelination facilitates faster long-range connections in the brain, adolescents gain an increased ability to think abstractly and bring ideas together from different locations in the brain.
• Engaging in critical thinking activities and using informational texts helps students strengthen the pathways needed for higher-order thinking. By encouraging students to engage in activities that stimulate their critical thinking characteristics, we can help them develop stronger cognitive skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

Synaptic Pruning

• Also known as the “use it or lose it” principle, synaptic pruning eliminates underutilized neural pathways to make room for more essential ones. During childhood and adolescence, the brain soaks up information like a sponge, but as time passes and information isn’t accessed, those neural pathways disappear, and synaptic pruning occurs.
• This is why providing them with engaging, real-world content like ELA news articles that broaden their perspective and deepen their understanding is so important. By reading broad informational texts, students access many neural pathways that would otherwise be pruned from inactivity.

When is the Best Time to Teach Critical Thinking?

• During this period of rapid neural development, learning actually changes how the adolescent brain is structured and how it functions. As teachers and mentors it is our responsibility to provide students with the foundational information and learning opportunities necessary to stimulate their developing neural networks and executive functions.
• The more often you stimulate a neural circuit in your brain, the stronger that circuit becomes. This phenomenon explains why it’s easier to speak a foreign language with practice and why learning how to play a second musical instrument is easier than learning how to play an instrument for the first time — practice strengthens the neural circuits.
• K-12 education happens when the brain is undergoing its most rapid period of growth. Educators play a critical part in changing adolescents’ neural structures and shaping their brain function. Research shows that “a well-developed prefrontal cortex with strong Executive Functions can improve both academic and life outcomes.”

Which Skills to Teach?

• Analyze issues from multiple angles,
• Make informed decisions, and
• Engage thoughtfully with the world around them
• Incorporate critical thinking
• Stage problem/statement/opinion.
• Analyze issues from multiple angles. (Students ask: What, Where and How)
• Make informed decisions, (Student do research and ask: Why, By When and Who)
• Engage thoughtfully with the world around them. (Students ask question while watching TV or reading by asking: Why, When, How?
• Incorporate the new knowledge practically and see if it works. (Students ask: How, Why and When?)

This information is important for educators, especially as it can guide them to understand the skills of the students at a specific age.

How Can AI Be Used to Enhance Students’ Critical Thinking?

Researchers Say……

AI can assist the student :

• to find resources for research.
• to find additional information.
• to plan better
• to answer questions. Dialogue with Chatbot.
• to interpret data: Bridging the Gap Between Data and Decision
• to enhance Problem-Solving and Decision-Making

AI’s role in education transcends traditional boundaries, offering a dynamic approach to tackling intricate challenges.

Through advanced algorithms and data analytics, AI empowers students to address real-world problems such as climate change, poverty, and health issues with innovative solutions.

AI Says…….

How can AI be used to enhance students’ critical thinking?

• Personalized Learning
• Interactive Simulations
• Data Analysis
• Collaborative Learning
• Feedback and Assessment
• Encouraging Creativity

How Can AI Be a Threat to Students’ Critical Thinking?

What Researchers Say…

1. Plagiarism
2. No thinking
3. Asking and accepting
4. Over-Reliance and Cognitive Complacency

What AI Says…

1. Over-reliance on AI tools
2. Lack of Problem-Solving Skills
3. Superficial Learning
4. Decreased Effort in Research.
5. Misinformation
6. Erosion of Creative Thinking

What Humans Can Do Beyond AI’s Reach?

1. Formulating research questions and hypotheses.
2. Evaluating the credibility and relevance of sources.
3. Identifying biases and logical fallacies in arguments.
4. Analyzing evidence and drawing independent conclusions.
5. Engaging in respectful debate and fostering intellectual curiosity.
6. Human Nuance and Ethical Considerations

Conclusion

Where is the Future Heading?

Bearing the different perspectives in mind, the research question of this study has multiple levels of answers. Using Artificial intelligence and the skill of critical thinking can not be separated by teachers and students. Both need to keep their eyes and ears and especially their minds open to assess and identify if information is correct or incorrect.

How Can Curriculum Be Adjusted to Improve CT?

The second question on how curriculum needs to be adjusted to improve Critical thinking is also important as students are not supposed to be receiving information passively, but the curriculum should include interactive student-centered learning experiences. Currently the curriculum is still following a lecturer-centered teaching approach but this needs to change so students can have the opportunity to be involved actively in the learning process. This means that questions and answers need to be included in the learning experience.

Another approach could be to follow a scenario-based or problem-based approach as part of a project where the students are requested to critically examine two very similar case studies and establish the correct and incorrect treatment or solution based on the student’s knowledge. The second part of the project could include an activity where the students search for answers for both scenarios by using AI. The third leg of the project will be for the student to disseminate the answers from AI and to proof that his/her answer is correct based peer reviewed literature.

How to Use AI to Enhance CT in the Future?

AI can be involved to support the students’ critical thinking skills by posing a question and letting the student answer the question before they can ask AI the same question. This comparison will be helpful in determining which answers were the same and which were not.

This approach will assist students to look at information from different perspectives and to practice the skills to critically assess an opinion or scientific facts.

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