The Validity of Critical Thinking Scenario-based Tasks in Secondary School

The work is devoted to the establishment of the psychometric properties of the instrument for assessing critical thinking in high school. The instrument is represented by six scenario-based tasks, implemented in a computer form. In the course of our work, we reviewed definitions and approaches to the study of critical thinking, studied key measurement instruments, and also identified the relationship between critical thinking and the procedural and operational aspects of thinking (in particular, with the stages of logical thinking). We also carried out a psychometric analysis of the data, the methodological framework of which included an analysis of the correspondence between theoretical ideas about the structure of competencies and empirical data and an analysis of the psychometric quality of the indicators. In total, 1178 7th grade pupils from two regions (Kaluga and Yaroslavl) of Russia participated in the study. As a result, we obtained empirical confirmation of the conceptual framework of the measurement instrument, determined the psychometric qualities of the script elements, proposed options for their improvement, and also developed new script elements aimed at measuring the content of formal-logical thinking with automatic processing, for further research of the convergent validity of critical thinking.