Kai Cortina, Professor of Psychology
Do Students Really Learn Critical Thinking in College?
Abstract: It is hard to find colleges in the US that do not promise in their brochures and web-presentations that they teach critical thinking. It is also easy to demonstrate that companies consider critical thinking a key skill when they hire college graduates. Surprisingly, there is little convincing evidence that higher education actually delivers on this promise. I will explain how psychologists define critical thinking and how we developed valid measures of critical thinking in my lab that are inspired by actual problems in Ann Arbor (e.g., the "plume" - spreading water pollution on the West side). Finally I present the results of a recent study with UM students who worked on those new tasks. I argue that improving critical thinking in college requires more innovative teaching approaches.
Recording link to be added after the talk.
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