INTEGRATION OF CRITICAL THINKING AND EPISTEMIC THINKING IN STUDENTS
Keywords:
critical thinking, epistemic thinking, epistemic beliefs, evidence, justification, reflective judgment, argumentation, scientific literacy, independent thinking, higher education.Abstract
This article examines the integration of critical thinking and epistemic thinking in students from psychological and pedagogical perspectives. The aim of the study is to interpret critical thinking as the ability to analyze evidence, evaluate it, and produce justified conclusions, and epistemic thinking as a form of thinking directed toward evaluating the source, credibility, complexity, and justification of knowledge, and on this basis to reveal the mechanisms of their interconnection. The study is based on theoretical-analytical, comparative-conceptual, and interpretive synthesis approaches. The findings indicate that without epistemic criteria, critical thinking may remain at the level of formal logical operations, whereas epistemic thinking without critical analysis may not fully translate into practical judgment and conclusion making. Therefore, their integration enables students to verify sources, compare conflicting arguments, justify their own positions, and recognize the limitations of their conclusions. The article concludes that developing critical thinking and epistemic thinking together in higher education strengthens the psychological foundation of scientific literacy, independent thinking, and intellectual responsibility.
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