The interplay between reflective thinking, critical thinking, self monitoring, and academic achievement in higher education
The present study assessed the associations among higher order thinking skills (reflective thinking, critical thinking) and self monitoring that contribute to academic achievement among university students. The sample consisted of 196 Iranian university students (mean age 22.05, SD 3.06; 112 females; 75 males) who were administered three questionnaires. To gauge reflective thinking, the "Reflective Thinking Questionnaire" designed by Kember et al. (Assess Eval High Educ 25(4):380 395, 2000) was utilized. It includes 16 items measuring four types of reflective thinking (habitual action, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection) To assess critical thinking, the "Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal"(2002) was utilized. It comprises 80 items and consists of 5 subtests (inference, recognizing unstated assumptions, deduction, interpretation, and evaluation) Self monitoring was measured via 8 items of the self regulation trait questionnaire designed by O'Neil and Herl (Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, 1998) The results demonstrated that critical thinking and all components of reflective thinking positively and significantly predicted achievement with habitual action having the lowest impact and reflection exhibiting the highest influence. Self monitoring indirectly exerted a positive influence on achievement via understanding and reflection. It was also found that among the four subscales of reflective thinking, reflection and critical reflection predicted critical thinking positively and significantly. Self monitoring had a positive and significant impact on critical thinking. It also significantly and positively influenced understanding as well as reflection.