"I Was So Gullible!" First-Year College Students' Emerging Understandings of Evidence

• In Event: Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Students' Understanding of Evidence and Research

Abstract

While critical thinking is essential to many college courses (Bok, 2006), students, particularly freshmen often struggle to enter the habits of mind to think critically (Dietering & Jameson, 2008). This study addresses this problem by demonstrating our pedagogies in an education course to teach students how to evaluate and synthesize sources as well as craft a compelling argument that includes counterarguments. As two instructors in separate seminars, we collected data through qualitative and quantitative means and results indicated that students developed skills in more critically evaluating arguments, questioned sources more readily, used the language of argumentation in a more sophisticated manner, and shifted their attitude as one who produces, not consumes information.

Authors

• Rebecca Shargel, Towson University

• Lisa Anne Twiss, Towson University