How Do Faculty in the Natural Sciences and Humanities Conceptualize Critical Thinking?

• In Event: Teaching and Learning Across the Disciplines

Abstract

This study seeks to understand how faculty who teach general education courses in the natural sciences and humanities conceptualize critical thinking(CT). It employs a qualitative, interpretivist and inductive approach to collect, analyze and interpret data. Data was collected using in-depth individual interview and focus group discussions involving 14 faculty drawn from disciplines in the natural sciences and humanities. A grounded theory framework was used to analyze the data. Preliminary findings indicate faculty constructed their individual conceptualizations of CT as a result of a complex interplay among disciplinary approaches and methods, personal epistemologies, and their ontology’s on the nature of CT. This study has implications for curricular and assessment of general education and sheds light on approaches for faculty development.

Author

• Mark C. Nicholas, Oklahoma State University