Critical Thinking In Stem: A Qualitative Study Of Community College Teaching Techniques

There is evidence in the literature that teaching critical thinking in college courses at both community colleges and four-year universities helps students gain critical thinking skills. However, students are not learning the critical thinking skills that employers expect in freshmanlevel science, t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of STEM education 2021-07, Vol.22 (3), p.46-52
Main Author: Evangelisto, Christa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classrooms
College faculty
College Instruction
Colleges & universities
Community colleges
Critical thinking
Educational technology
Professional development
Qualitative research
Skills
STEM education
Students
Success
Teachers
Teaching
Teaching methods
Technical education
Thinking Skills
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Summary:There is evidence in the literature that teaching critical thinking in college courses at both community colleges and four-year universities helps students gain critical thinking skills. However, students are not learning the critical thinking skills that employers expect in freshmanlevel science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses. There is a lack of research on what community college STEM teachers are doing to teach critical thinking skills. This qualitative research study was conducted to discover and describe community college teachers' methods and techniques in STEM disciplines to teach critical thinking skills. The research was conducted using a basic qualitative research design that employed interviews to discover community college teachers' instructional experiences in STEM disciplines. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparative method to determine common themes. Findings of the study included descriptions of modeling critical thinking skills, allowing students to practice using the skills, and assessing the critical thinking skills using a skills-based assessment. The described useful techniques also included the requirement of analysis throughout, including analysis of data, analysis of the process, and analysis of thinking. The conclusions of this study align with what other research in teaching critical thinking skills has reported, despite the differences in teaching STEM disciplines compared to teaching other disciplines. It is recommended that community college teachers receive professional development to help them understand what critical thinking is and how to teach it in their classrooms.
ISSN:1557-5276