Basic Thinking Skills and Their Direct Instructional Approaches: A Narrative Review

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Medical Education
• Instructional Design

Background:

• Basic thinking skills are foundational cognitive operations crucial for all thought processes.
• These skills are prerequisites for advanced abilities like critical thinking, problem-solving, and clinical reasoning.
• Medical education requires effective methods for developing these essential cognitive skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To define basic thinking skills.
• To identify practical tools and approaches for their direct instruction in medical education.
• To address the gap in existing instructional methods.

Main Methods:

• A narrative review of authoritative databases was conducted.
• Keywords included "basic thinking skills" and "direct instruction".
• 56 relevant sources were selected and analyzed after screening 4,697 records.

Main Results:

• Basic thinking skills correlate with Bloom's taxonomy and Marzano's dimensions.
• Instructional methods include standalone programs, subject-embedded tools (e.g., Six Thinking Hats, concept mapping), and curriculum-infused approaches.
• Recent evidence confirms the effectiveness of these tools in enhancing clinical reasoning and ethical decision-making.

Conclusions:

• Direct instruction of basic thinking skills using structured tools effectively promotes higher-order thinking.
• Tools like concept maps and Six Thinking Hats are adaptable for medical education.
• Hybrid approaches integrating these skills into pre-clinical and clinical training are recommended for professional competence and lifelong learning.