Critical Thinking in Technology Students
Critical Thinking in Technology Students
Critical Thinking in Technology Students
instilling
critical thinking
in technology and engineering education students
In technology and engineering education, critical thinking
may be synonymous with technological literacy.
Introduction What is Critical Thinking?
Critical thinking is a skill most teachers want their students Definitions of critical thinking depend on the perspective of
to develop and exhibit to help prepare them for their 21st the domain, whether business, secondary education, higher
Century futures, whether for college or career choices. education, or psychology. While there are similar ideas in
Unfortunately, many teachers have a lack of understand- all, the variety of definitions adds to the confusion faced by
ing of what critical thinking is and what strategies are best educators directed to increase criti-
utilized to teach and assess it. Technology and engineering cal thinking in their students. The by
(T & E) education offers appropriate settings for the types of Critical Thinking Community (n.d.)
instructional strategies that appear to be the most effective website defines it as: “(1) Disci-
Thomas
in teaching critical thinking. plined, self-directed thinking, which Loveland, DTE
30 technology and engineering teacher May/June 2019
instilling critical thinking skills in technology and engineering education students
In a study on assessing critical thinking in postsecondary critically. Good critical thinking is exemplified by reflection on
psychology courses, Bensley, Crow, Bernhardt, Buckner, and the effects of technological development, an ability to objectively
Allman (2010) reported that explicit teaching of critical thinking consider diverse values and to select appropriate solutions to
skills in course instruction is necessary to initiate student gains problems. Critical thinking can be enhanced when technology
in argument analysis abilities. Argument analysis is a process of teachers implement more hands-on interactive instructional
reflecting on evidence to support sound conclusions, using rules strategies via computer animation and direct instruction to em-
and criteria to make judgments based on reason, and having the phasize system and theoretical knowledge. Classroom debates
personal dispositions to use those rules. on technological issues may be used to develop these skills in
technology students.
The International Technology Education Association/Interna-
tional Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEA/ Darby and Rashid (2017) discussed the teaching of higher-order
ITEEA, 2003) has an assessment benchmark specific to criti- thinking skills (HOTS) in engineering drawing classes. When
cal thinking in Advancing Excellence in Technological Literacy. these classes were taught through rote memorization and pro-
Standard A-4, Benchmark C states that “teachers consistently cedures with a focus on national exam achievement, the devel-
facilitate critical thinking and decision making” (ITEA/ITEEA, opment of critical thinking skills was hindered. Critical thinking
2003, p. 31). The text that accompanies this benchmark points was enhanced when open-ended problems based on real-world
out that teachers can assess critical thinking through pre- and applications were used as teaching strategies. Higher-order
post-test approaches, reflective writing by technology students, thinking problems require students to “find alternative solutions
or by evaluating student response to problem situations in order systematically, analyze the problems and their solutions critically,
to demonstrate critical thinking and decision making. become confident while reasoning, remain open-minded when
being criticized by others, and make mature judgment by taking
Critical Thinking in Technology and into account others’ views as well as their own decisions” (Darby
& Rashid, 2017, p. 309).
Engineering
Standards for Technological Literacy (ITEA/ITEEA, 2000/2002/ Technology and engineering (T & E) teachers have many in-
2007) includes many standards and benchmarks that are pre- structional strategies at their disposal to teach critical thinking.
disposed towards open-ended discussion and multiple solu- Problem-/project-based learning is a natural strategy through
tions that can be defended by deep understanding and vigorous challenging, open-ended, and engaging problems. Students can
argumentation. For example, Standard 4 The Cultural, Social, be required to collect and analyze data to make conclusions.
Economic, and Political Effects of Technology, includes a prompt Technology students need deeper understanding of core content
that “students should explore these emerging technologies and knowledge to contextualize to other settings or problems. This
develop the skills to evaluate their impact. They should learn is very different than memorizing facts. For example, a technol-
to reason and make decisions based on asking critical thinking ogy and engineering teacher develops a design brief about solar
questions, not on the basis of fear or misunderstandings” (p. powered vehicles. For the students, just knowing terminology
61). A topic on new medical devices can lead to many questions won’t help them be successful. They must understand physics,
about technological solutions with unintended consequences, electrical conversions, friction, power train, weather, and more
costs, the FDA approval process, politics, and other consider- to have a deep enough understanding to be successful in this
ations. In technology and engineering education, critical thinking challenge.
may be synonymous with technological literacy. A sample lesson
plan on the effects of technology is referenced at the end of this Teachers should design challenges with multiple possible solu-
article. tions. Use of Wikipedia won’t be of any value to students in these
activities. Competitions increase motivation in students to do
Yu, Lin, & Fan (2015) studied high school communication tech- better and to find unique solutions to give them an advantage. If
nology students' abilities to apply conceptual knowledge to think the technology teacher can add in explicit links to authentic work
critically about technological issues. Conceptual knowledge is situations, that will increase student persistence.
both system knowledge and theoretical knowledge. An example
from communication technology would be the system knowledge Other technology teaching strategies that can enhance critical
of source, encoder, transmitter, receiver, decoder, storage, re- thinking include having students develop Wikis, which is noted
trieval and destination, and theoretical knowledge of radio wave for student collaborative editing of content. Small-group teams
forms to explain how mobile phones work. The results of their can develop WebQuests for technology content. Case studies
study indicated that without concrete examples and teacher-di- may be developed for small-group teams to solve. The groups
rected assistance in student understanding of related theoretical would determine the effectiveness of their decisions based on
concepts, students generally had a difficult time learning to think criteria and tradeoffs. Class presentation about the decision
May/June 2019 technology and engineering teacher 33
instilling critical thinking skills in technology and engineering education students