Critical Thinking, Metacognition, and Epistemological Beliefs: How personal beliefs and thinking about one's own thinking enhances higher order thinking

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi- experimental research was to explore the effect, should any exist, of adding metacognitive enrichment exercises to classes in which critical thinking is an implicit learning objective. Completed Schommer Epistemological Questionnaires (1994) were collected from 681 pre-test and 469 posttest students at a central Tennessee community college during the span of one semester. The problem was to find a way to enhance critical thinking skills and learning in general. This research represents the first attempt to measure short-term gains in epistemological maturity. The findings demonstrated that adding metacognitive enriching exercises increased the epistemological maturity levels of the students in all four factors measured by the instrument. In two of those factors, the increase was statistically significant. The conclusion is that more research is warranted, but the findings indicate that a focus on metacognitive enrichment can significantly increase a student?s personal epistemology and, thereby, the student?s critical thinking skills.