Critical Evaluation Toolkit

In summary

Skills in analysis and critical evaluation are fundamental to learning throughout life, enabling:

• disaggregation and synthesis of parts of systems, processes, tasks, objects, texts, artefacts, problems, ideas, concepts and arguments;
• exploration of alternative ideas or solutions to problems;
• predictions about likely outcomes based on evidence;
• clear thinking using logic (inductive and deductive);
• identification of faulty reasoning, assumptions and biases by thorough testing; and
• informed judgement about the worth of ideas and arguments.

Teaching approaches/strategies for skills development

Critical analysis and evaluation skills can be taught, learned, practised and assessed in any discipline using a number of different strategies, such as:

• concept maps;
• debating;
• questioning;
• evaluating texts and web sites;
• applying inductive and deductive reasoning.

Encourage students to become critical thinkers

Ultimately, the test of a student's skills in analysis and critical evaluation lies in their ability to:

• read widely and read critically;
• make sense of and synthesise findings;
• take a big picture view of ideas and concepts and where they 'fit' in the scheme of things;
• get to the heart of issues by challenging and confronting different points-of-view;
• arrive at their own justifiable position.

When assessing students' analytical and critical thinking skills

Determine whether the student has:

• identified the component parts of the task (whether concrete or abstract) and disaggregated them for close examination;
• reconstructed them into a coherent whole based on underlying principles (whether concrete or abstract);
• examined the component parts in terms of their inter-relationships and their relationship with the whole (whether concrete or abstract);
• formulated a valid proposition and premises;
• constructed a cogent argument using a logical process of some kind;
• identified and justified any underlying assumptions and biases;
• remained open to other perspectives;
• challenged or contested these perspectives; and
• used relevant and reliable evidence to support their own claims or propositions.

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