Collaborative Research: Implementing and Assessing Strategies for Environments for Fostering Effective Critical Thinking (EFFECTs) Development and Implementation

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The project is a collaboration between the University of South Carolina and Marshall University. It is establishing strategies to aid faculty in the design and implementation of special instructional modules (EFFECTs) designed to foster critical thinking. This proposal leverages the success of a Phase I CCLI project that defined the pedagogical structure for the EFFECTS, generated six EFFECTs, and developed an assessment methodology. Each module contains three elements: 1) a decision worksheet that guides an initial design for the first class period, 2) active learning modules and journal questions during the next n class periods, and 3) material to guides a group discussion to produce a final design during the last class period. Using these modules in several classes under the earlier grant led to gains in the students' core knowledge and critical thinking skills. Developing a systematic approach that enables other faculty to use EFFECTs is a key aspect for disseminating the approach widely through the engineering education community. To achieve this, the investigators are working to develop instructional material to teach the EFFECTs to faculty, to expand current assessment tools, to develop a community of practice to support the design and implementation of EFFECTs, and to assess the strategies developed to design and implement EFFECTs. Dissemination is being accomplished through web postings, including links with the NSDL, through conference presentation and journal publications, and through faculty workshops. A comprehensive evaluation effort, under the direction of an independent expert, includes the monitoring of student learning outcomes using instruments for measuring scientific reasoning skills, critical thinking skills, and content knowledge. Broader impacts include the dissemination of the material and the evaluation results, faculty workshops, and outreach through existing K-12 programs.