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Hanlon JP, Prihoda TJ, Verrett RG, et al. Critical Thinking in Dental Students and Experienced Practitioners Assessed by the Health Sciences Reasoning Test. J Dent Educ. 2018;82(9):916-920doi: 10.21815/JDE.018.089.
Hanlon, J. P., Prihoda, T. J., Verrett, R. G., Jones, J. D., Haney, S. J., & Hendricson, W. D. (2018). Critical Thinking in Dental Students and Experienced Practitioners Assessed by the Health Sciences Reasoning Test. Journal of dental education, 82(9), 916-920. https://doi.org/10.21815/JDE.018.089
Hanlon, John P, et al. "Critical Thinking in Dental Students and Experienced Practitioners Assessed by the Health Sciences Reasoning Test." Journal of dental education vol. 82,9 (2018): 916-920. doi: https://doi.org/10.21815/JDE.018.089
Hanlon JP, Prihoda TJ, Verrett RG, Jones JD, Haney SJ, Hendricson WD. Critical Thinking in Dental Students and Experienced Practitioners Assessed by the Health Sciences Reasoning Test. J Dent Educ. 2018 Sep;82(9):916-920. doi: 10.21815/JDE.018.089. PMID: 30173186.
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J Dent Educ. 2018 Sep;82(9):916-920. doi: 10.21815/JDE.018.089.

Critical Thinking in Dental Students and Experienced Practitioners Assessed by the Health Sciences Reasoning Test.

Journal of dental education

John P Hanlon, Thomas J Prihoda, Ronald G Verrett, John D Jones, Stephan J Haney, William D Hendricson

Affiliations

  1. John P. Hanlon, DMD, MS, is Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; Thomas J. Prihoda, PhD, is Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Ronald G. Verrett, DDS, MS, is Associate Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; John D. Jones, DDS, is Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; Stephan J. Haney, DDS, is Associate Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; and William D. Hendricson, MS, MA, MEd, is Assistant Dean, Education and Faculty Development, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry. [email protected].
  2. John P. Hanlon, DMD, MS, is Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; Thomas J. Prihoda, PhD, is Professor, Department of Pathology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Ronald G. Verrett, DDS, MS, is Associate Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; John D. Jones, DDS, is Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; Stephan J. Haney, DDS, is Associate Professor, Department of Comprehensive Dentistry, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry; and William D. Hendricson, MS, MA, MEd, is Assistant Dean, Education and Faculty Development, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Dentistry.

PMID: 30173186 DOI: 10.21815/JDE.018.089

Abstract

To date, there has been a lack of published studies examining the validity of the Health Sciences Reasoning Test (HSRT) to assess critical thinking among dental students. The aim of this study was to examine the construct validity of the HSRT using a novice-expert model consisting of first-year dental students as novices and experienced general dentists as experts. Novice cohort subjects were recruited from all 105 students in the first-year dental school class at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio during a regularly scheduled course in August 2015. A total of 83 students participated, for a 79% response rate. Thirty individuals personally recruited from the same school's faculty and from private practitioners made up the expert cohort. The results showed that the adjusted mean overall score for the expert cohort (25.31) was significantly higher than that of the novice cohort (22.64) (p=0.04). The expert cohort achieved higher adjusted mean scores in all scales (Induction, Deduction, Analysis, Inference, and Evaluation), with the difference in the Analysis scale being significant (p=0.02). In this study, experienced general dentists achieved significantly better overall scores on the HSRT as compared to first-year dental students, suggesting the instrument was able to measure differences between novice and expert. Further efforts to validate the instrument in a dental education setting and to understand its correlation with strategies and practices aimed at developing critical thinking in dental students are warranted.

Keywords: assessment; critical thinking; dental education; educational measurement; psychometrics

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