Paper Sample on Exploring Critical Thinking Skills in UAE Social Science Undergraduates

Introduction

My research aims to explore how social science undergraduates in the UAE develop their critical thinking skills. The definition of what critical thinking is or consists of is immensely debated, and therefore its development, teaching, and assessment are contested (Banning, 2006; Halpern, 2001; Ennis, 1996; Fisher and Scriven, 1997; Paul, 1992; Dewey, 1909, Facione, 1990; Glaser, 1941; Sternberg, 1986). The literature on critical thinking in higher education is built around the fundamental assumption that, while regarded as essential, critical thinking is neither clearly nor commonly understood (Niu, Behar-Horenstein, Garvan, Cyndi, 2013; Mathias, 2015; Verburgh, 2019). This paper aims to run a small-scale scholarly investigation of the definitions and develop understandings of critical thinking through the lens of academics and students in political science. More specifically, this study explores the consistencies and disconnections assumed to exist between academic staff and students' perceptions of attainment and definition of critical thinking. The hypothesis is that academics and students perceive crucial thinking in different ways and that this may limit its achievement as a critical graduate attribute, claimed by many higher education institutions and demanded by the labor market (Burbach, Matkin, & Fritz, 2004; Reinststein & Lander, 2008; Bok, 2006).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

This study aims to contribute to the existing gap in the literature on the development of critical thinking skills in higher education, specifically looking at political science students and academics in the UAE and the underrepresented context in higher education literature. The study does not attempt to measure students' critical thinking skills using standardized tests. Instead, it focuses on students' understandings and definitions of critical thinking within the contextualized teaching and learning experiences throughout an introductory political science course. The study also investigates the academics' accounts of their practice of developing critical thinking skills in order to provide a context for the students' responses and reactions. Both narratives – from students and academics – are used to explore the potential consistencies and disconnections between academics' and students' understandings and definitions of critical thinking.

Findings Chapter Draft

This research is an exploratory case study on the development of critical thinking in higher education. I start by presenting the findings on how participants define critical thinking, highlighting the differences between students and academics. This follows the analysis of participants’ perceptions of how higher education develops critical thinking. The evidence details the following four domains of higher education that contribute to the development of critical thinking: course and curriculum design, modes of teaching and learning, assessments, and socialization. The findings bring together points of conformity and disconnect among participants.

Defining Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is defined as the process of synthesizing, interpreting, applying, and analyzing information intellectually, which was gathered from observation, among other gathering skills. As per the literature, this is a contentious and highly debated definition; therefore, understanding the perceptions of critical thinking from the perspective of participants is crucial. When asked to define critical thinking, similar terminology was used by both students and academics. Academics referred to critical thinking as a state of consistently questioning and commenting on what you are engaging in.

“We are always questioning what we are reading and not accepting anything at face value. Furthermore, we engage in a critique of the materials you know by asking these questions: you know. What does this book or article contribute? How does it contribute, and what are its limitations? Therefore, I think that this encourages the student or anyone really to develop a position on the material rather than, you know, just regurgitate or, you know, or reproduce the information,” said Academic M.

All these academics used the term ‘analysis’ to define critical thinking.

“I think there's like, no well-defined term that we use all the time. It's just the ability to question and analyze something, rather than just take it at face value,” opined Academic J.

Students mostly used the term “digging deeper” as a way to describe critical thinking:

“Critical thinking really kind of forces you to dig deeper, sit down and really like, think about what you're learning, and kind of make sure you actually understand it … Whereas in other classes, I actually put in an effort to really understand the content and kind of, like, challenge myself to, to question things, which is a lot harder (laughs),” suggested Student MI.

Students also described critical thinking as a process that includes analysing. One student described their critical thinking:

“Critical thinking entails these steps, the reading part, the analysis, and the thinking part. I feel like critical analysis is, like, unfolding the uh the topic or the issue deeper until you understand its core and everything from this topic,” said Student M

The academics brought up that formulating an opinion or a position on a topic requires critical thinking. Academic J said, “Critical thinking is bringing a lot of things together and meld your argument out of that, or your analysis out of that,” while Student H stated that “I would define critical thinking as may be looking at a piece of work or like hearing someone's opinion or whatever it may be and understanding, the different points of view, and how you would position yourself knowing all of that.” This definition was useful when examining the findings on assessments and essays (see below).

Students also perceive critical thinking as a tool to distinguish the right from the wrong:

“I see critical thinking as the ability to objectively look at things and critically decide based on information, based on unbiased information. Alternatively, sometimes, it is even biased what is right, what is wrong, and looks at different sides of the same points,” suggested Student V.

Critical thinking here entailed dealing with diverse opinions, and balancing multiple sources of information was also commonly brought up by students.

“My definition of what it means to be a critical thinker is to receive information and not to just take it for granted, and to be able to balance multiple sources. Especially, like, in a world where we have Fox News and CNN, like in the context of the USA, and... If you are not a critical thinker, you end up infiltrated by some ideologies that you assume is the truth even though they are not. Therefore, I think filtering out your truth, your kind of truth, when there is so much bias,” said Student Hu.

With academics, this diversity meant that students had varying levels of confidence in voicing their opinion, commanding the English language, and finding comfort in the classroom. “In particular with freshmen, people are often not confident, and so [I’m] still trying to adjust the best way to deal with that,” explained Academic J.

On the other hand, some students found it hard to distinguish between thinking and critical thinking mainly because both are related, as they stated it has just become second nature to them, especially in the higher education environment:

“I think because we're always kind of forced to be critical thinkers, especially in the environment of higher education, it becomes second nature that you no longer go like, "Okay, let me switch on critical thinking lenses and look into this," it just becomes the way you think, right? It becomes second nature,” suggested student Hu.

Two students brought up how critical thinking, which they equated to questioning everything, also has a downside. One mentioned how it could make them "annoying to be around" (student Y), and the other gave an example of how if you subscribe to a specific political party. You suddenly start to question some of the positions they have, that it is not favored in his community (Student V).

When asked if and why critical thinking is important, no participant denied its importance. Many brought up how it is crucial to our current world, as new information can be thrown at you from every direction. A student highlighted how critical thinking makes you aware and added, “I know this might sound bad, but like how you really shouldn't trust everything you read, even if it's from a reputable academic source,” suggested Student H.

Both academics and students brought up that critical thinking is now a required life skill as you have an overwhelming production of information that is not necessarily true. Building on that, critical thinking can give you a new perspective, unique to you and your experiences.

“I think like, with like, how much information we constantly have in front of us, around us, uh, I believe critical thinking is important in that section. I also think critical thinking sometimes makes you enjoy things more like when you're reading a book and like sometimes if you read specific things or watch specific things a few years after like if you watch it in intervals- of who you are and how you think, you notice that you receive it differently. Even if, like, the medium is the same, it is just as if your view on the world has changed, and you, you see this differently,” explained Student Y.

When asking students about critical thinking, many of them brought up the fact that to engage in critical thinking, one must have prior knowledge in the field. However, academics’ views on having foundational expertise in life skills to engage in critical thinking varied, as some of them thought one does not need to understand something to be able to question it. In contrast, others thought to be able to question you need an understanding.

“I guess if you know more about a subject, then it is going to be much easier for you to apply critical thinking… the content of the class or I just happened to know more, or maybe like, I just felt more comfortable with the teacher,” suggested Student MI.

This shows that as the students progressed throughout the course, they felt either more comfortable or knowledgeable enough to apply critical thinking, linking to the finding below, where academics observed heightened levels of critical thinking throughout the course. Student V thought that critical thinking did not give him/her any particular skills but rather knowledge of economic political, social development. Building on that, I dug deeper to ask students if they observed any development in their critical thinking skills had taken the course, to which they stated that they learned more of independent learning rather than hard skills. The academics stated that they observed a heightened level of critical thinking throughout the course, using both formal and informal ways of assessing students.

Developing Critical Thinking

To understand the perceptions of how higher education develops critical thinking, students and academics participated in semi-structured interviews. The data and document analyses revealed that the following four domains of higher education contribute to the development of critical thinking: course and curriculum design, modes of teaching and learning, assessments, and socialization. I begin by discussing the course and curriculum design, aided by document analysis. Then I continue to the academics’ experiences with teaching juxtaposed with students’ reflections on learning. This follows explaining the role of assessments. I finish by focusing on students’ insights into the socialization process within higher education as a critical contributor to the development of their critical thinking.