Critical thinking (CT) is widely viewed as an essential skill for college students. Nevertheless, the use of CT skills in the classroom often varies across disciplines. This article summarizes perceptions of CT, including various definitions and constructs as well as barriers to its implementation in higher education. Faculty members from various…

This study examines a student-created "pop-up museum" about the opioid epidemic that was part of a project-based service-learning (PBSL) experience in a college course. A survey of student perceptions of the learning experience, a course evaluation, and a survey of museum visitors' perceptions of their experiences with the museum…

This quantitative and qualitative study explored students' perceptions of a flipped German course and its measurable impact on their critical-thinking skills. The instructional design of the course shifted grammar and vocabulary instruction outside of class so that students in the newly created collaborative in-class space could engage in more…

Although many professors realize that note taking while listening to a lecture results in shallow learning and a lack of student engagement (Hartley & Davies, 1978), lecturing remains the primary mode of instruction. A recent challenger to the dominant notetaking/PowerPoint paradigm is Reacting to the Past (RTTP). To capitalize on the…

The literature supports the concept of a flipped classroom as a pedagogical approach that can improve critical thinking, enhance clinical judgment, and promote student engagement. This project implemented the flipped classroom concept in two nursing specialty courses, one didactic and one clinical. Data were gathered from both courses using a…

In today's instant gratification era, it is easy to assume that when faced with the option of reading a chunky literary text or skimming through the condensed electronic version, students will take the path of least resistance. Today's e-guides are quick, painless, and free. The question, then, becomes this: Knowing these e-resources are readily…

This study examined whether and how the effects of student-faculty interaction on a range of student outcomes--such as college GPA, critical thinking and communication skills, academic satisfaction, and cultural appreciation and social awareness--vary by students' academic disciplines. The study utilized data on 37,977 undergraduate students who…

Twenty-first century teaching and learning focus on the fundamental skills of critical thinking and problem solving, creativity and innovation, and collaboration and communication. Metacognition is a crucial aspect of both problem solving and critical thinking, but it is often difficult to get students to engage in authentic metacognitive…

Teaching in the digital age has become increasingly challenging for college and university faculty. Application, relevance, and active engagement rather than traditional PowerPoint slide show lectures are what our technology-savvy, socially networked students crave and need to keep their attention and interest levels high. Using a combination of…

From 2003-2007 at the New England College of Optometry, the Integrative Seminar Course (ISC) was used to facilitate students' learning of clinical reasoning. To examine students' perceptions and experiences regarding their learning, an end-of-year Likert-style survey was administered to 96 first-year students after completion of the ISC. Analysis…

Introducing first-year college students to complex thinking is often complicated by their reliance on external authority. A key task for educators is identifying the nature of experiences that offer academic challenge yet are accompanied with sufficient support for students to engage these challenges meaningfully. The authors report the nature of…

This study involved students enrolled in a first-year service-learning course and explored the relationship between service-learning, academic self-confidence, and integration into the college experience. Descriptive statistics and qualitative document analysis of participant-produced texts were used to depict the students' perceptions regarding…

The authors describe an inquiry-based learning project that required students in a first-year world history course to reflect on and analyze critically the nature of the knowledge found in Wikipedia--the free, open-content, rapidly evolving, internet encyclopedia. Using a rubric, the authors explored students' perceptions of the collaborative and…

Highlights epistemological development of young adults, including the nature of problems commonly confronted by college students, by reporting on an investigation into the epistemic orientation of general education faculty, focusing on their assumptions about typical undergraduates' approaches to reasoning; and discusses implications for…