Developing the Leadership Competency of Critical Thinking in College Students: a Quasi-Experimental Mixed Methods Study at a Small Christian College
Our world of constant change and complex challenges requires citizens who know how to exercise higher-order thinking skills, and individuals who have developed their metacognitive abilities to a higher extent are better prepared to perform effectively as leaders. This quasi-experimental mixed methods study employed a pre and posttest design to determine whether the critical thinking skills of students at Hartland College could be improved over the course of a one quarter ten week term through the use of biblical worldview instructional approaches such as biblical worldview development, faith learning integration, and deep Bible study that had critical thinking activities embedded in them. This study also sought using a phenomenological approach to assess the level of understanding that five faculty members at Hartland had of critical thinking and whether and how they believed it could be further developed in students. The results from this study suggest that critical thinking may be enhanced through the use of instructional approaches such as biblical worldview development, faith-learning integration and deep Bible study that have critical thinking activities embedded in them. However, the results also indicated that the overall increase in critical thinking skills was not statistically significant when compared with the critical thinking learning outcomes of the control group. The findings from this study suggest that educators seeking to enhance critical thinking abilities in their students should consider incorporating a broader range of critical thinking instructional approaches employing a mixed methods infusion teaching approach that combines course content together with explicit critical thinking instruction.
Leadership, College Students, Competency, Critical Thinking, Small College, Higher Education, Leadership Studies
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