Abstract
Background & Objectives: Critical thinking comprises the skills of reasoning, purposeful judgment, and self–regulation, developing from interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference. The outcomes of such skills would be proper problem–solving and appropriate decision–making. Achieving high levels of critical thinking and significant self–knowledge depends on having high levels of cognitive ability and problem–solving skills, which are the main aspects of metacognition strategies. Another factor related to critical thinking is cognitive ability. To create dynamic and effective educational settings, it becomes crucial to focus on improving learners' critical thinking ability. Related and effective structures to develop main educational components must be considered regarding the significance of critical thinking development for educating thoughtful and critical learners. This research aimed to investigate the indirect relationship between critical thinking based on cognitive abilities and the mediation of metacognition in university students.
Method: The method of this research was correlational analysis using structural equation modeling. The study's statistical population includes all students of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan City, Iran, in the 2020–2021 academic year. Sampling was conducted according to available sampling. A total of 380 students were selected by applying ten structural equation modeling sampling rules to determine the sample size. The inclusion criteria included studying at Semnan University of Medical Sciences and providing informed consent to participate in the research process. The exclusion criteria included providing wrong information and incomplete questionnaires. Data collection tools included the Critical Thinking Questionnaire (Ricketts, 2003), the short form of the Metacognition Questionnaire (Wells & Cartwright–Hotton, 2004), and the Cognitive Abilities Questionnaire (Nejati, 2013). The data obtained were analyzed using a correlation coefficient and structural equation modeling method in SPSS–25 and AMOS–25 software. The significance level for all tests was set at 0.05.
Results: The results showed that the assumed model fit the collected data (χ²/df=2.98, GFI=0.919, AGFI=0.882, CFI=0.912, RMSEA=0.072). The results also showed positive and significant relationships between the total path coefficient of critical thinking and cognitive abilities (p=0.001, β=0.372) and metacognition with cognitive abilities (p=0.022, β=0.140), as well as the indirect path coefficient of critical thinking and cognitive abilities (p=0.021, β=0.049).
Conclusion: Based on the findings of this research, metacognition plays a mediating role in the relationship between critical thinking and cognitive abilities. The research findings are essential to know and use the effective factors in critical thinking.