Promoting Critical Thinking in Professional Military Education

Abstract

Critical thinking (CT) is important to professional military education (PME) because it provides a powerful tool to operate in a complex, changing world. Unfortunately, the teaching of such skills has been woefully ignored in American education. This paper examines common elements of successful nation-wide CT programs to develop a simple academic assessment checklist. The checklist is used to assesses the CT curriculum of the United States Air Force's Air Command and Staff College (ACSC)-a PME program for mid-level officers. The Air Force's ACSC CT curriculum has made great strides in improving the cognitive skills of its student body but is still in its infancy. Assessment of the school's program showed that, while some skills and behaviors are taught, the list is far from complete when compared to other nation-wide programs. Furthermore, CT standards, testing, and faculty development efforts are still incomplete.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 2000
Accession Number
ADA394086

Entities

People

  • George A. Emilio

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • California
  • Education
  • Human Behavior
  • Instructions
  • Instructors
  • Language
  • Leadership
  • Military Education
  • New York
  • Organizational Structure
  • Psychology
  • Reasoning
  • Schools
  • Students
  • Thinking
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • STEM Education
  • Systems Analysis and Design