Working on Critical Thinking skills using the computer lab works of an Engineering subject

[EN] A practical intervention was devised in order to promote and to assess Critical Thinking in undergraduate students of Engineering. First, in collaboration with specialists in education, the concept of Critical Thinking, and its skills and dispositions on which to focus on, was determined. Secon...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Giner-Navarro, Juan, Sonseca, Águeda, Martínez Casas, José|||0000-0001-5706-4951, Carballeira, Javier|||0000-0002-4179-8499
Format: article
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repository:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/187352
Online Access:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/187352
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Critical Thinking
Learning assessment
Teaching strategies
Engineering education
Engineering students
Description
Summary:[EN] A practical intervention was devised in order to promote and to assess Critical Thinking in undergraduate students of Engineering. First, in collaboration with specialists in education, the concept of Critical Thinking, and its skills and dispositions on which to focus on, was determined. Second, a teaching strategy was designed in order to be as effective as possible, considering the limitations of the intervention. This strategy took advantage of the computer lab sessions where discussion and questioning encouraged the development of Critical Thinking. Then, the instruments to assess the acquired skills and attitudes of the students were developed. Finally, a quantitative analysis of the results was conducted in order to evaluate the validity and reliability of the strategy. This paper presents a full description of the intervention carried on for two years. Besides the desired effects on the students performance, some conclusions regarding the development of appropriate instruments to deal with a large group of students are drawn. This intervention has proven to be effective in order to help the students to develop their Critical Thinking skills, and it is particularly suitable for large groups.