A Critical Thinking/Learning Pilot Study: Student Perceptions of Higher- Order Cognitive Levels of Thinking/ Learning in College Classrooms

Abstract

To what extent are higher order thinking skills taught and tested on college campuses today? This challenging question prompted the researcher to conduct a Pilot Study for purposes of teaching twelve junior and senior students the cognitive levels of thinking/learning and to measure their perceptions of the extent to which it occurred in their classes. Participants in the study underwent a two week teaching/ practice session prior to making observations forfour weeks in six selected courses. In fourout of six classes, students perceived the learning environment to be primarily concerned with the lower order levels of thinking/learning at least 96 percent of the time. The higher-order cognitive levels of thinking/learning occurred in two classes, as perceived by students, at least 18 percent of the time. Educators should be encouraged to more effectively challenge and stimulate the critical thinking/learning process of their students.