Leadership

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). Du