AT THE INTERSECTION OF CRITICAL THINKING AND ECONOMICS EDUCATION: EXPLORING WHETHER LEARNING ECONOMICS AIDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Author

Jack Reynolds

Graduation Semester and Year

2018

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

C. James Hardy

Abstract

Teaching students to think critically is the fundamental aim and overriding ideal of education. It has become increasingly clear that today’s high-tech, knowledge-based economy demands excellent critical thinking skills. The challenge as educators is to determine whether there are disciplines, subdisciplines, or courses within disciplines or subdisciplines that are better at aiding student development of critical thinking skills. Using human capital theory as the theoretical framework, this study seeks to address whether students will have statistically significantly higher critical thinking test scores after taking a Principles of Macroeconomics or Principles of Microeconomics course. Results show after analysis of the test data from both micro and macro students failed to find statistically significantly higher critical thinking test scores after taking their economics course.

Keywords

Economics, Education, Economics education, Critical thinking, CCTT, Cornell Critical Thinking Test

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

Recommended Citation

Reynolds, Jack, "AT THE INTERSECTION OF CRITICAL THINKING AND ECONOMICS EDUCATION: EXPLORING WHETHER LEARNING ECONOMICS AIDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS" (2018). Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations. 208.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/edleadershippolicy_dissertations/208