Assessing the Implementation of Critical Thinking Skills in the University: A Focus on Technology Education

Abstract

There is a great demand for universities to foster critical thinking skills and this requires universities to develop effective assessment methods. Critical thinking skills enable students to interpret and integrate new information and the manner in which it is applied in unfamiliar settings. The purpose of this article is to determine the extent to which technology lecturers set summative questions that stimulate students to apply critical thinking skills. Facione’s framework for critical thinking skills was used to assess how technology lecturers stimulate critical thinking during the summative assessment. A qualitative approach was applied using a case study design. The sample constituted four technology lecturers who taught four technology modules at the undergraduate level. The findings indicated that technology lecturers in the selected university, to some extent, elicited critical thinking skills, which is important as modern education requires students to develop critical thinking skills to find technological solutions to everyday problems. Keywords: Analysis; Assessment; Bloom’s Taxonomy; Critical Thinking Skills; Deduction; Evaluation