Comparison of Critical Thinking between Freshman and Senior B.S. Students

Introduction. Critical thinking skills are necessary/or different disciplines of medical sciences. These skills must be considered in clinical education curriculum. Therefore, this study was planned with the purpose to measure and compare critical thinking in reshman and senior B.S. students in Isfahan Medical University in 2002. Methods: This research was a descriptive cross- sectional study. The research samples consisted of 200 freshman and senior B.S. students from four Schools including: Health (30), Nursing and Midwifery (98), Management & Informatics (45) and Rehabilitation sciences (27). These were selected by stratified simple sampling method. The questionnaire consisted of two parts: demographic characteristics and Cornell Critical Thinking Test which was completed by the participants. The data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient and by SPSS software. Results: The mean score of critical thinking for freshman and senior B.S. students was 19.9 and 21.6, respectively. T-test showed a significant difference between critical thinking scores of freshman and senior students. There was a significant relationship between the mean score of critical thinking and the accuracy in responding in senior students. A significant relationship was also found between the mean score of critical thinking and students'families place of residency in freshman students. Conclusion: The findings showed a low mean score of critical thinking for freshman and senior students in four schools. Therefore, it is recommended that learning and education processes should be reinforced. Also based on the research findings, it seems that medical education at the university, regardless of some difficulties has been successful in increasing critical thinking among students. Key words: Critical Thinking, Students, Medical Education Address: Hoseini A, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. Source: Iranian Journal of Medical Education 2002 6: 21-25.