Critical thinking as the ability to sort and qualify the information available, to form one's own judgement

Abstract

In an era marked by an excessive exposure to information and disinformation, this article explores how the public in France engages with critical thinking on the topics of scientific information and knowledge, as well as associated debates. First, a panel survey was carried out in 2022 by the science education centre Universcience in Paris in collaboration with the survey institute GECE. A total of 3,218 respondents participated in the survey in France. The survey questions focused on three themes: (1) the substantial relationship between respondents' scientific reasoning and critical thinking; (2) sources that respondents used for information, particularly on scientific subjects, to form an understanding of current events; (3) respondent relationships to discourses in the sciences and otherness in reasoning. In this study, critical thinking was defined as the ability to sort and make sense of available information and to question one's opinions. Also, the ability to discern trustworthy sources and information. In this approach, critical thinking is a condition for correctly assessing information on science topics. This is understood to include knowledge about science, its processes of knowledge production, and quality sources of information in the natural sciences. In this study, a Barometer of Critical Thinking was developed, and a survey was carried out. Survey results and the development of the barometer are described. Finally, we discuss how developing scientific literacy (knowledge about scientific facts, methods, practices and sources) is crucial in order to foster critical thinking on scientific information, knowledge, debates, and beyond.