Science and Technology Lectures to Develop Critical Thinking: A Case Study in Higher Education

Critical thinking is an important skill that professionals of all disciplines must possess. In this work, a case study where a group of students undertook a sciences and technology course with the goal of developing critical thinking is presented. Particularly, whether the students developed skills after the course was assessed by using the standardized “Watson-Glaser” critical thinking test. When comparing the performances, it was found that the mean score increased by around 4 in a scale from 0 to 100. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was conducted to assess normality, followed by a Wilcoxon and a Multi-factor Analysis of Variance, to determine statistical significance. It was found that the scores did not follow a normal-behavior, and that results are statistically significant, based on critical p and F values. Therefore, it was concluded that the sciences and technology course helped students develop critical thinking skills.