Critical thinking skills and tendency to critical thinking of dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in virtual education courses in year 2020-2021

Background and Aim: Critical thinking is a skill on which learner can achieve teaching goal during an  active  mental process only after receiving key point from teacher . This valuable skill is not considered as it should be in dental students, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, when theoretical courses are held online therefore, the present study was conducted to evaluate the critical thinking skill of dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences during virtual education. Materials and methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 1399-1400. Data collection tool was The California Form Critical Thinking Questionnaire consisted of 34 questions that were distributed online among 127 dental students. Collected data were entered into SPSS-21 statistical software and descriptive statistics, independent T-test and One-way analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. Results: 117 people participated in this study. The mean score of critical thinking in the present study population is 12.48±4.06 Therefore, the critical thinking skills of dental students are poor. The mean score of critical thinking and each of its dimensions is not significantly different between male and female students. Conclusion: It is thought that this skill has become weaker in students during the days of virtual education;