Critical thinking in university students

Abstract

Currently, the development of critical thinking in university students has become a key aspect in higher education. The growing complexity of today's world requires future professionals to be able to analyze, interpret, evaluate, argue and question information in a reflective and well-founded manner. However, several investigations have pointed out that many university students have difficulties in developing critical thinking skills, which affects their ability to solve problems, make informed decisions and actively participate in the knowledge society. This problem is aggravated by traditional teaching methodologies that prioritize memorization over reflective analysis and argumentation. This study is part of a systematic review on critical thinking in university students. The objective of the study is to analyze the existing scientific production on critical thinking in university students during the last five years. The methodology considers the qualitative approach, interpretative paradigm, documentary type, systematic review design and analytical descriptive scope. Therefore, electronic documents from the Web of Science indexed database were used. A sample of 9 full-text original articles, written in Spanish and English, was selected and analyzed to obtain information on the quality of the articles.