You Want Me to Do WHAT? Transforming Faculty Practice to Improve Student Critical Thinking

This three year quasi-experimental study compared the effects of college teaching strategies on the critical thinking scores of students enrolled in undergraduate courses throughout Central Washington University’s College of the Sciences. Faculty were recruited to first teach a baseline course using their usual lecture/laboratory approach, followed by a subsequent course implementing all or some of the Community-Based Inquiry (CBI) method, which includes student-led research and active learning strategies. A network of faculty collaboration and peer mentoring supported the participating instructors. Critical thinking levels were measured in all student participants pre- and post-treatment using the online California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Results showed significant critical-thinking gains in the classes that implemented all or some of the CBI active learning strategies, but no change or decreases in the traditionally taught classes