In education research there is ofte

In education research there is often an emphasis on critical thinking as a skill set (Bailin, 2002) or putting critical thought into tangible action (Barnett, 1997). Dressel and Mayhew (1954) suggested it is educationally useful to define critical thinking as the sum of specific behaviours which could be observed from student acts. They identify these critical thinking abilities as identifying central issues, recognising underlying assumptions,evaluating evidence or authority, and drawing warranted conclusions. Bailin (2002) raises the point that from a pedagogical perspective many of the skills or dispositions commonly used to define critical thinking are difficult to observe and, therefore,difficult to assess. Consequently, Bailin suggests that the concept of critical thinking should explicitly focus on adherence to criteria and standards to reflect ‘good’ critical thinking(Bailin, 2002, p. 368).