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2019 Annual Conference

October 8–11, 2019

St. Louis, MO

No Adult Left Behind: Improving Critical Thinking in the Undergraduate Classroom

Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at 5:00 PM–6:30 PM CDT
Grand DE
Select the FIRST area in which your presentation best fits.

Colleges and Universities

Presentation Format Requested

Poster (60-90 minutes)

Session Abstract

A course was designed with explicit instruction on critical thinking as a primer for contextualized practice. Significant gains were recorded. Enrollment of upper-level and returning adults are on the rise. The data were analyzed for classification and age. Results suggest a potential need for qualitative inquiry and andragogical practices.

Target Audience

The target audience includes practitioners in higher education (i.e. instructors, faculty), as well as higher education and adult education researchers.

Learning Outcomes

Participants/Learners will evaluate instructional changes, geared toward traditionally aged university students, through the lens of an adult educator.

Session Description

One of the primary goals of higher education is to improve student critical thinking (CT) skills. Individual undergraduate courses are not generally successful at effecting positive CT gains. We designed and implemented a course to better support students in gaining these skills.  The course, a freshmen-level general education non-major’s integrated science course, utilized explicit instruction on CT as a primer for contextualized practice via case studies, discussions, and group work. Using a pre/post design, a significant number of students who completed the experimental course improved their critical thinking skills. The improvements are equivalent to those seen over a traditional four year university program. The data were originally analyzed and interpreted with traditionally aged students in mind. The course, however, now has greater enrollment of upper-level, non-traditional, and/or older students. As the returning adult learner population grows on our campus and nationally, we have found it increasingly important to analyze our data with this demographic in mind.  We analyzed critical thinking data (CAT) derived from several years of course implementation to discern differences amongst student groups based on university classification and age. Results suggest a need for qualitative inquiry and implementation of andragogical practices.

Format & Technique

I will present a briet introducation on critical thinking (CT) within academia, clarify the context, and detail the instrutional changes implemented in the model research course.  I will then detail the overall Pre/Post Critical-thinking Assessment Test (CAT) data before parsing out the gains, or lack thereof, for specific populations.  The discussion and focus will be on student classification and returning adult learners. The talk will end with discussion on - best practices for older and returning adults in higher education, inquiry for investigating their experiences, and perhaps theoretical assumptions.

Primary Presenter

Steven D. Koether, M.S., Sam Houston State University; Texas A&M University
Work Title

SHSU-Program Coordinator/Instructor; TAMU-Adult Ed Doctoral Student

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