Objective: Using data from HEIghten® Critical Thinking, a student learning outcomes assessment, the purpose of this study was to evaluate what variables are associated with higher critical thinking performance for students enrolled in various community college programs and to evaluate performance differences across demographic and college-level subgroups as well as student perceptions. Method: With data from 1,307 students enrolled across 34 U.S. and Canadian higher education institutions (72% enrolled in 2-year institutions), we utilized a hierarchical regression to identify variables associated with critical thinking performance. Critical thinking performance differences were evaluated using analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and t-tests across student demographic and college experience subgroups and across student perceptions. Results: Results of this study showed (a) consistent significant predictors associated with higher critical thinking performance; (b) a positive relationship between critical thinking performance and the frequency of using critical thinking in college courses; (c) significant, but relatively small performance differences across demographic and college experience subgroups; and (d) positive relationships between student perceptions and critical thinking performance. Conclusion: This study added to the limited literature evaluating critical thinking skills for community college students. Overall, results suggest that institutions should focus attention to the frequency at which students are using critical thinking throughout their courses, which could increase student performance in this particular area, especially if critical thinking is an explicit outcome within the course. Results also suggested the need to emphasize critical thinking skills more across various community college programs and across non-STEM-focused programs. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

中文翻译：

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探索批判性思维作为入读社区学院学生的成果

目标：使用来自 HEIghten®Critical Thinking（一项学生学习成果评估）的数据，本研究的目的是评估哪些变量与参加各种社区大学课程的学生的更高的批判性思维表现相关，并评估人口统计和大学之间的表现差异-水平的子群体以及学生的看法。方法：根据来自 34 所美国和加拿大高等教育机构的 1,307 名学生（72% 就读于 2 年制机构）的数据，我们利用分层回归来确定与批判性思维表现相关的变量。使用方差分析 (ANOVA) 和跨学生人口统计和大学经历亚组以及跨学生认知的 t 检验评估批判性思维表现差异。结果：这项研究的结果表明 (a) 与更高的批判性思维表现相关的一致的显着预测因素；(b) 批判性思维表现与大学课程中使用批判性思维的频率之间存在正相关关系；(c) 人口统计学和大学经历亚组之间的显着但相对较小的表现差异；(d) 学生认知与批判性思维表现之间的积极关系。结论：这项研究增加了评估社区大学生批判性思维技能的有限文献。总体而言，结果表明机构应该关注学生在整个课程中使用批判性思维的频率，这可以提高学生在这一特定领域的表现，特别是如果批判性思维是课程中的明确结果。结果还表明，需要在各种社区大学课程和非 STEM 重点课程中更多地强调批判性思维技能。讨论了对未来研究的建议。