Skip to content
University of Maryland LibrariesDigital Repository at the University of Maryland
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   DRUM
    • Theses and Dissertations from UMD
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    The Development of Critical Thinking Skills and Dispositions in First-Year College Students: Infusing Critical Thinking Instruction Into a First-Year Transitions Course

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    umi-umd-2975.pdf (909.2Kb)
    No. of downloads: 13145

    Date
    2005-12-01
    Author
    Ruff, Lauren G
    Advisor
    Selden, Steven
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    This study examines whether infusing explicit critical thinking instruction into a first-year transitions course can accelerate the critical thinking development of first-year college students. The focus of this study was critical thinking pedagogy and the impact of this instruction on a class of students. Employing action research, the instructor-researcher developed a quasi-experimental design with a control and an experimental section of the same course. The control class followed the standard content and format of a transitions course; the experimental class covered the same content as the control section using critical thinking activities aimed at developing both skills and dispositions. In addition to examining differences between the two sections, the effect of the experimental pedagogy was also examined across gender. Students in both sections were administered the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) as well as the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) in a pre-test posttest design during the second and final class meetings. Independent samples and paired samples t-tests were used to compare total scores as well as subscale scores for each instrument (five for the CCTST, seven for the CCTDI). Due to the small sample size (n=39) most of the results are not statistically significant, and therefore not generalizable to larger populations. Gender comparisons were also conducted using t-tests as well as ANOVA to test for interaction between gender and the "treatment," participation in the experimental section. The most meaningful analyses were those comparing difference scores - increase or decrease in score - from pre-test to post-test. On the CCTST, the total difference score for the experimental group was significantly higher than that of the control group. The findings for the CCTDI were inconclusive. These findings are consistent with the literature on the impact of critical thinking instruction. For the gender comparisons, females and males in the experimental group outperformed their peers in the control group, particularly on the CCTST. On the CCTST, there was some indication that females in the experimental group might have benefited from the "treatment" more than the males; this did not hold for the CCTDI.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1903/3155
    Collections
    • Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
    • UMD Theses and Dissertations

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility
     

     

    Browse

    All of DRUMCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister
    Pages
    About DRUMAbout Download Statistics

    DRUM is brought to you by the University of Maryland Libraries
    University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-7011 (301)314-1328.
    Please send us your comments.
    Web Accessibility