While all students encounter difficulties in transitioning to college, the experience is more pronounced for first-generation college students (Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, & Nora, 1996). Definitions of "first-generation college student" differ across scholarly studies. Understanding this population's gains in critical…

For this study we considered the influence of binge drinking behavior in college on students' critical thinking gains. Findings suggest that binge drinking has a negative influence on students' critical thinking gains over 4 years of college and that this effect was driven by students with the lowest levels of precollege critical thinking. In both…

The importance of education and its role should be to open up minds and ensure that it thinks reasons and analyzes. The National Curriculum Framework 2005 places demands and expectations on the teacher, which need to be addressed by both initial and continuing teacher education. To enhance the knowledge, values and skill among student it is…

There is much to discuss, and debate, about the sources and effects of inequality on economic growth and social mobility, and the relationship between education and economic growth. However, an undergraduate degree from a highly selective and elite college gives students a strong advantage in gaining employment in jobs that promise greater…

The QEP that was implemented in this study focused on enhancing students' critical thinking skills. A pretest/posttest approach was used to assess students' critical thinking progress in freshman level core English and Math courses. An intervention was performed involving intensive instruction and assignments relating to a set of reasoning…

Critical thinking is one of the most important skills deemed necessary for college graduates to become effective contributors in the global workforce. The first part of this article provides a comprehensive review of its definitions by major frameworks in higher education and the workforce, existing assessments and their psychometric qualities,…

This study estimates the effects of a deep approaches to learning scale and its subscales on measures of students' critical thinking, need for cognition, and positive attitudes toward literacy, controlling for pre-college scores for the outcomes and other covariates. Results suggest reflection is critical to making gains across the outcomes.

Colleges and universities recognize that one of the primary goals of higher education is to promote students' ability to think critically. Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS), this study examined the relationship between faculty teaching practices and the development of students' critical thinking skills,…

Critical thinking skills (CTS) are the core learning outcome measures for higher education. Generally, CTS are not extensively developed or practiced during primary and secondary education. As such, early cultivation of CTS is essential for mastery prior to collegiate matriculation. Weekly engagement in 50 min of classroom discussion with student…

Gender differences in achievement test performance at the college level were studied as part of the initial analysis of the recently developed Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency (CAAP)--an achievement test battery for use in higher education. The CAAP was pilot tested in fall 1988 and includes a measure of writing proficiency and four…

This study examined how three dimensions of college students' experiences affect critical thinking skills: (1) curricular exposure, (2) formal classroom and instructional experiences, and (3) out-of-class experiences. The study used a 1-year, longitudinal, panel study design using data collected as part of a pilot study for a national,…