Assessing the Development of Critical-Thinking Skills in Undergraduate Psychology Students

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip T. Dunwoody ◽  
J. Mark McKellop ◽  
Jordan A. Baney ◽  
Jessica R. Hafer
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Undergraduate Psychology

Faculty Forum

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-74 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Repressed Memories ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Undergraduate Psychology

An issues-oriented capstone course can help undergraduate psychology students appreciate the complexity of the discipline, integrate the material, and exercise the critical thinking skills they have learned throughout their courses in the major. Example issues for such a course include clashes between major theoretical approaches, ethical challenges, fundamental questions (e.g., nature–nurture), and contemporary debates (e.g., repressed memories).

Thinking Like a Psychologist Introductory Psychology Writing Assignments

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 335-341
Author(s):  
Diane Keyser Wentworth ◽  
Lona Whitmarsh
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
General Psychology ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Writing Assignments ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Student Reactions ◽  
Psychology Course

Teaching the general psychology course provides instructors with the opportunity to invite students to explore the dynamics of behavior and mental processes through the lens of theory and research. Three innovative writing assignments were developed to teach students to think like a psychologist, operationalized as enhancing critical thinking, applying research concepts, and resisting plagiarism. The assignments were evaluated with two samples of general psychology students. In Sample 1, student reactions to the assignments were uniformly positive. In Sample 2, students were assessed directly on their critical thinking skills using a set of three scenarios. An increase in students’ ability to think critically was found. Therefore, these assignments were successful in helping develop our students’ ability to think like a psychologist.

Prediction of Performance in an Academic Course by Scores on Measures of Learning Style and Critical Thinking

1997 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 595-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernadette M. Gadzella ◽  
Dean W. Ginther ◽  
G. Wendell Bryant
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Deep Processing ◽  
Psychology Courses ◽  
Undergraduate Psychology

Three scores were used to predict how 38 students who received A grades and 25 students who received C grades in introductory psychology courses differed in learning style and critical thinking skills. The subjects were 63 students enrolled in undergraduate psychology classes with one instructor. Students were given course outlines, test schedules, and scores on their tests and reports and computed their own course standing throughout the semester. At the beginning of the semester, students responded to the Inventory of Learning Processes and Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. Ten scores on the two inventories were analyzed by discriminant function analysis which showed that the combination of the three test scores: Deep Processing and Methodical Study (from the Inventory of Learning Processes) and the Total Critical Thinking (from the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal) correctly classified 84.2% of the students with A grades and 68.0% of the students with C grades.

scholarly journals Psychological Misconceptions: Recent Scientific Advances and Unresolved Issues

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 377-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Alan Bensley ◽  
Scott O. Lilienfeld
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Recent Progress ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Contrary Evidence

Psychological misconceptions present problems for psychology students as well as for laypersons, experts, and others who need to think critically about psychological information. Recent progress in measuring psychological misconceptions has led to fresh understandings of how people with better critical thinking skills and dispositions are less prone to misconceptions and how people who adopt a more intuitive approach to thinking are more prone to them, as predicted by dual process models of cognition. Recent studies also suggest that people who endorse more misconceptions show more impaired metacognition by failing to accurately monitor what they know. These new findings help to explain why refutational approaches, which explicitly activate misconceptions and debunk them with contrary evidence, often reduce misconception endorsement. Nevertheless, they may not readily explain why some efforts to eliminate misconceptions backfire or are otherwise ineffective, highlighting the need for more research on misconception content and individual differences in cognition, personality, and attitudes that predict misconception endorsement.

scholarly journals Critical Thinking Performance Increases in Psychology Undergraduates Measured Using a Workplace-Recognized Test

2020 ◽  
pp. 009862832095798
Author(s):  
Merce Prat-Sala ◽  
Mike van Duuren
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Psychology Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Transferable Skills ◽  
Cross Sectional Design

Background: Higher education institutions and universities aim to provide students with a range of transferable skills that enable them to become more thoughtful and effective employees, citizens, and consumers. One of these skills is critical thinking. Objective: The aim of the present research was to examine whether taking a psychology degree is concomitant with students’ increase in critical thinking skills when students are not explicitly taught critical thinking. Method: Study 1 utilized a cross-sectional design and Study 2 a longitudinal design. The Watson and Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA, UK) was used to measure critical thinking. Results: For both studies, the overall scores of WGCTA, as well as scores of the subtest of Recognition of Assumptions, were significantly higher for final-year than for first-year students. Conclusion: From the findings, we conclude that the levels of critical thinking by final-year psychology students may be enhanced. Teaching implications: We propose that teaching other aspects of critical thinking such as Evaluation of Arguments and Interpretation, as measured by this test, could be beneficial in further developing psychology students’ overall critical thinking performance.

An Active-Learning Approach to Teaching the Undergraduate Psychology and Law Course

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 76-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Walker Perry ◽  
Matthew T. Huss ◽  
Bradley D. McAuliff ◽  
Julie M. Galas
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Active Learning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Psychology And Law ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
Undergraduate Psychology

This article describes an active-learning approach to teaching an undergraduate psychology and law course specifically designed to improve critical-thinking skills. After reviewing the concepts of active learning and critical thinking, we describe the course and present data and observations regarding its success. Finally, we discuss strategies for handling problems that may arise when teaching a psychology and law course using this approach.

PERBEDAAN PENINGKATAN KETERAMPILAN BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA PADA MATERI TERMOKIMIA MELALUI PEMBELAJARAN GROUP DAN INDIVIDUAL PROBLEM SOLVING

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 99
Author(s):  
St Fatimah Azzahra
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Learning Problem ◽  
Group Problem ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Group Design ◽  
Group Problem Solving

ABSTRACTThis research is aimed to know the differences increase critical thinking skills through learning group and individual problem solving in thermochemical material. This research uses a quasi-experimental design with nonequivalent control group design and study sample consisted of 103 students, divided into the first experimental (group problem solving) (35 students), the two group experimental (individual problem solving) (34 students). The collected through pretest-posttest. The analyzed with the Kruskal Wallis test, the results showed that the learning problem solving as a group or individually can improve students’ critical thinking skills. Statistical test there are significant differences in the students critical thinking skills thermochemical material between students who received group and individual problem solving. Critical thinking skills improvement with problem solving individual learning higher compared with group learning problem solving.Keywords: problem solving learning, critical thinking skillsABSTRAKPenelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbedaan peningkatan keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa melalui pembelajaran group dan individual problem solving pada materi termokimia. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode quasi experimen dengan desain Nonequivalent Control Group Design dan sampel penelitian ini terdiri dari 103 siswa yang terbagi ke dalam kelompok eksperimen pertama (pembelajaran group problem solving) (35 siswa), kelompok eksperimen kedua (pembelajaran individual problem solving) (34 siswa).Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui pretest-posttest. Data dianalisis dengan uji Kruskal Wallis Test, hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pembelajaran problem solving secara group maupun secara individual dapat meningkatkan keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa. Data uji statistik, terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan keterampilan berpikir kritis siswa pada materi termokimia antara siswa yang mendapat pembelajaran group problem solving dan individual problem solving. Peningkatan keterampilan berpikir kritis dengan pembelajaran individual problem solving lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan pembelajaran group problem solving.Kata Kunci: Pembelajaran Problem Solving, Keterampilan Berpikir Kritis

UPAYA MENINGKATKAN KOMPETENSI GURU SMP DALAM MENYUSUN TES HASIL BELAJAR BERBASIS KETERAMPILAN BERPIKIR KRITIS MELALUI SUPERVISI AKADEMIK

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 772
Author(s):  
Leni Suryani
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Student Learning Outcomes ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Teacher Competence ◽  
Collection Data ◽  
High Level ◽  
Teacher Data

This research is motivated by the competence of teachers in preparing poor learning outcomes tests and has not been able to measure high-level thinking skills, especially critical thinking skills. Therefore the researcher seeks to improve teacher competence in compiling tests on student learning outcomes based on critical thinking skills through academic supervision. This study uses a school action research design that has stages of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection. This research was conducted for 2 months starting April 9 to May 17, 2019 for Physics teachers in the 7 target schools. Data is sourced from interviews with teachers and test documents prepared by the teacher. Data collection techniques include observation, interviews and documentation. Data analysis through the stages of data collection, data simplification, data presentation, conclusion drawing. Data were analyzed using assessment rubrics adjusted to indicators of critical thinking skills. The results of this study conclude that teacher competence in preparing tests of learning outcomes based on critical thinking skills has increased from the first cycle with a percentage of 61% with sufficient categories to 76% with good categories in cycle II.

CONCEPT-BASED LEARNING DAN KEMAMPUAN BERFIKIR KRITIS MATEMATIS

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maifalinda Fatra ◽  
A Rizki ◽  
Tita Khalis Maryati
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Mathematics Learning ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Model ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Simple Explanation ◽  
Critical Thinking Ability ◽  
Thinking Ability

Mathematical Critical thinking is one of  mathematical abilities that must be obtained by students. Critical thinking is one of the high order thinking processes that can make concepts in student knowledge.  Students with critical thinking in mathematics learning mostly do rational activities such as interpreting information based on a particular theoretical framework, linking theory with practice, making claims and justifying it, utilizing data in support of argumentation, making relations or relationships between various ideas, asking questions, evaluating knowledge, predict, describe something, analyze, synthesize, and categorize. This study aims to analyze the effect of the Concept-Based Learning Model on the critical thingking mathematical abilities.The purpose of this research is to analyze the effect of Concept-Based Learning Model toward mathematics critical thinking ability. The method used in this research is quasi experiment by Randomize Control Group Post Test Only Design with cluster random sampling technique. Indicators of mathematics critical thinking skills measured in this study include providing simple explanations, building basic skills, concluding, making more explanations, and deciding an action. The results showed that the mathematics critical thinking ability of students in the experimental class for the five indicators that being analyze was higher than the ability of students in the control class. A fairly high difference in the indicator showed in give a simple explanation and concluding. and it means that the application of Concept-Based Learning Model significantly influences the  abilities  of students' mathematics critical thinking.

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