The Cognitive Standard: A Rubric-Based Analysis of Critical Thinking in High School Mathematics

For most students, high school classes can feel like they’re all about memorizing formulas and following the same steps every time to get the right answer. I wanted to see whether academic standards actually expect and aim to develop critical thinking or if they prioritize students getting the “right” answer. To address this, I created a rubric to measure how much critical thinking is built into educational standards and tested it on high school math, including Algebra and Statistics. By identifying where standards encourage reasoning versus relying on procedures, this project will be the first step towards evaluating critical thinking across different subjects in education.

Intern: Stephanie Kengne

Mentors: Helene McLaughlin (TSX/TAS), Taryn Watford (AMDS/AB2)