Critical thinking activities in Florida undergraduate biology classes improves comprehension of climate change

ABSTRACT

This research shows that employing critical thinking (problem-solving and scientific reasoning) skills when learning about climate change helped undergraduate biology students to understand the subject matter better. In this post hoc analysis of pre- and post-test scores from a public Florida undergraduate college, we identified significant results, with medium effect sizes, for a critical thinking treatment to help undergraduates tie together concepts on climate change in introductory biology classes. Age was determined not to be a significant factor.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical thinking
• climate change science
• STEM education

Disclosure statement

There are no competing interests to declare.

Future research

Given this research was not part of a controlled experiment, additional research should be conducted in a more controlled environment. The use of larger sample sizes is also recommended. Additionally, future researchers may wish to study student age as a factor in their analysis.

When future tests are developed, we recommend they only contain the short answer portion and not a quantitative section. It is not possible to see critical thinking skills unless there is a written portion. It is in this short answer section where instructors begin to understand whether students are able to effectively employ critical thinking and thereby improve their understanding of climate change. Finally, a reliability analysis using Cronbach’s alpha should be conducted on the test to ensure internal consistency of the testing items.