The application of critical thinking in matriculation examination papers in the subject of biology

Recent reforms in the Croatian national educational system due to the Republic of Croatia’s accession to the European Union have as one focus to raise the level of critical thinking required by students. An important component of national education is the high stakes matriculation or ‘matura’ examinations. A study was made of biology examinations in both the countries of Australia and the Republic of Croatia. The comparison aimed to determine the level of critical thinking demanded based on the questions in the examination. This analysis of examination questions relied on the presumption of consequential validity of high stakes examinations; matriculation papers, where, if demanded by the examination, students will adopt certain skills, in this case, critical thinking. A hierarchical critical thinking taxonomy was subsequently developed based on similar taxonomies in existing literature to research the questions in the matriculation examination papers of biology in Australia and the Republic of Croatia respectively. The examination questions were classified according to this taxonomy and the results are displayed according to the level of critical thinking demanded in these examination papers.