Critical thinking tools – the CRAP test

Pru Mitchell

Critical thinking tools – the CRAP test

Pru Mitchell

Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

How can educators help students to develop the skills they need to evaluate information? Critical thinking ‘involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems,’ (ACARA, 2016). The ability to ‘critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources’ appears across subject areas. Knowing which sources, news and information we can trust is a fundamental element of information literacy. This article highlights Wikipedia as a trusted source of facts, and uses the CRAP test (Currency, Reliability, Authority and Purpose) to guide students in evaluating a Wikipedia article.

Original language	English
Journal	Teacher Magazine
Publication status	Published - 16 Jan 2017

Keywords

Critical thinking
Evaluation of sources
Information literacy
Wikipedia

Disciplines

Instructional Media Design

Access to Document

https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/critical-thinking-tools-the-crap-test

Cite this

@article{68c69b697b92458d947616cd4b73b18b,

title = "Critical thinking tools – the CRAP test",

abstract = " How can educators help students to develop the skills they need to evaluate information? Critical thinking {\textquoteleft}involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems,{\textquoteright} (ACARA, 2016). The ability to {\textquoteleft}critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources{\textquoteright} appears across subject areas. Knowing which sources, news and information we can trust is a fundamental element of information literacy. This article highlights Wikipedia as a trusted source of facts, and uses the CRAP test (Currency, Reliability, Authority and Purpose) to guide students in evaluating a Wikipedia article. ",

keywords = "Critical thinking, Evaluation of sources, Information literacy, Wikipedia",

author = "Pru Mitchell",

note = "For two months now fake news has been the news. It has taken a particular level of blatancy to get the topic of critical thinking and information literacy into mainstream media. This culminated in the Oxford Dictionaries nominating post-truth as its 2016 word of the year.",

year = "2017",

month = jan,

day = "16",

language = "English",

journal = "Teacher Magazine",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Critical thinking tools – the CRAP test

AU - Mitchell, Pru

N1 - For two months now fake news has been the news. It has taken a particular level of blatancy to get the topic of critical thinking and information literacy into mainstream media. This culminated in the Oxford Dictionaries nominating post-truth as its 2016 word of the year.

PY - 2017/1/16

Y1 - 2017/1/16

N2 - How can educators help students to develop the skills they need to evaluate information? Critical thinking ‘involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems,’ (ACARA, 2016). The ability to ‘critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources’ appears across subject areas. Knowing which sources, news and information we can trust is a fundamental element of information literacy. This article highlights Wikipedia as a trusted source of facts, and uses the CRAP test (Currency, Reliability, Authority and Purpose) to guide students in evaluating a Wikipedia article.

AB - How can educators help students to develop the skills they need to evaluate information? Critical thinking ‘involves students learning to recognise or develop an argument, use evidence in support of that argument, draw reasoned conclusions, and use information to solve problems,’ (ACARA, 2016). The ability to ‘critically analyse information and ideas from a range of sources’ appears across subject areas. Knowing which sources, news and information we can trust is a fundamental element of information literacy. This article highlights Wikipedia as a trusted source of facts, and uses the CRAP test (Currency, Reliability, Authority and Purpose) to guide students in evaluating a Wikipedia article.

KW - Critical thinking

KW - Evaluation of sources

KW - Information literacy

KW - Wikipedia

M3 - Article

JO - Teacher Magazine

JF - Teacher Magazine

ER -