I am in the process of assessing students' views of the impact of TBL on critical thinking skills in comparison to the "average college class". I have copied a proposal I wrote for presentation of this work at a conference that will be held in the summer. I only had one semester of data and will add this semester before presenting the material (assuming the proposal is accepted). Feedback is welcome!
Molly Espey
__________________________________________________________
Enhancing Critical Thinking in Economics Using Team-Based Learning
Relevance:
While critical thinking may be difficult to define, development of critical thinking skills is a principle goal of education, particularly higher education. Faced with a plethora of data and opinions with the proliferation of the internet, it is vital that college graduates can question assumptions, synthesize information, evaluate evidence, draw inferences, and make reasoned arguments. Critical thinking skills do not improve without practice, and effective teaching methods engage students with course material and each other, challenging them to think through issues and problems relevant to the real world. Engagement or problem solving alone, however, does not guarantee improved critical thinking; thus evaluation of the impact of alternative teaching methods on critical thinking skills is important in promotion of such methods and support and promotion of faculty engaging in such alternatives.
Methodology:
Team-based learning (TBL) is a teaching method in which students engage in course material daily in permanent teams of 5-7 students. In order to measure the impact of TBL on critical thinking, surveys about various aspects of learning were administered to students in two undergraduate classes during fall 2011, at the beginning and again at the end of the semester. The initial survey asked students to rank the extent to which they felt the average college class they've completed enhanced certain academic and critical thinking skills. The end-of-semester survey asked the students to rank how the use of TBL in my class enhanced their learning in these same categories. The students were then asked to compare the effectiveness of TBL to that of lecture-based courses in improving these same skills. All rankings were on a five point Likert scale. Academic and critical thinking skills addressed are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Academic and Critical Thinking Skills Assessed
General Academic Skills:
Individual responsibility for learning
Technical skills of the discipline
Written communication skills
Ability to solve problems relevant to the course material
Critical Thinking Skills:
Ability to apply concepts and tools to real world situations
Ability to interact and communicate positively and productively with others
Ability to develop an argument
Ability to critically evaluate arguments of others
Ability to draw conclusions after researching a topic
Ability to consider different points of view or different interpretations
This methodology allows indirect comparison of TBL to an average college course through comparison of initial and end-of-semester responses to essentially the same questions, with phrase "the use of team-based learning in this course" in the final survey replacing "the typical college course you've had" in the initial survey. It also allows direct assessment of students' perspectives of how TBL compares to lecture-based courses to determine if students feel this form of active learning improves academic and critical thinking skills relative to lecture-based courses.
Demographic data (gender, class level, grade point average, age, and major) was also collected to determine if responses vary systematically based on any of these categories. Approximately seventy more students will be surveyed during spring semester to increase the sample size for this portion of the analysis. Of those surveyed in the fall, twenty-two students were enrolled in an intermediate level environmental economics course, nearly evenly divided between juniors and seniors, with all but one majoring in Economics. Fifty-five students were enrolled in an introductory level microeconomics course designed for natural science students in the College of Agriculture. Nearly 42% of these students were Wildlife and Fisheries Biology majors and another 27% were Environment and Natural Resource majors. Forty-five percent of these students were sophomores, 35% juniors, 11% freshman, and only 9% seniors. Grade point averages for students in these two classes were nearly identical: 3.08 for the environmental economics course and 3.09 for the other.
Discussion:
Students in both classes rated TBL significantly more positively, in comparison to the typical college course, in terms of enhancing their ability to solve problems relevant to the course material and in terms of all of the critical thinking skills except the ability to draw conclusions after researching a topic. As research was not required for TBL activities in either class, this was not of concern. Interestingly, the Economics students (in the environmental economics course) did not rate TBL differently from the typical course they've had in terms of developing individual responsibility for learning, technical skills of the discipline, or written communication skills, but the students in the introductory course (primarily College of Agriculture) rated TBL significantly lower in terms of developing individual responsibility and technical skills, but still above neutral at 3.9 and 3.8 respectively. However, when asked to directly compare to lecture-based courses, TBL was rated significantly more positively in both classes for all ten skills listed in Table 1.
Development of critical thinking skills is a primary goal of higher education. With an increasingly complex, global, and information based society, it is essential that students learn to distinguish among sources and compare and evaluate different types of information. As important is the ability to draw conclusions and effectively communicate ideas to others. Active learning techniques engage students with each other and with course material and are generally thought to promote critical thinking more than lecturing, but few have attempted to measure improvements in critical thinking, or even students perceptions of improved thinking. This study finds team-based learning to significantly enhance specific critical thinking skills in comparison to the "typical" college course, and more specifically to lecture-based courses.
Molly Espey, Professor
John E. Walker Department of Economics
247 Sirrine Hall
Clemson University
Box 341309
Clemson, SC 29634-1309
(864) 656-6401
-----Original Message-----
From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jim Sibley
Sent: Friday, February 03, 2012 12:41 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: "Comparing Direct Versus Indirect Measures of the Pedagogical Effectiveness of Team Testing"
Hi
I agree with Susan
When we transform our courses....often the only assessment instrument that can give us longitudinal data is the old exams. We add to that perhaps some survey of student attitudes/beliefs after the change in the new course configuration.
Trouble is that old exams are often stuck at lower bloom's levels and really don't measure all those OTHER cool things students learn in the TBL classroom....interpersonal communication, self-regulation, metacognition
I still like to see these studies....but would love a study that does some broader assessments of outcomes.....I am in the process of hatching a SoTL project that might get us some better data on the effects of TBL
My two cents :-)
Jim
> From: Susan Hazel <[log in to unmask]>
> Organization: The University of Adelaide
> Reply-To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:26:58 +1030
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: "Comparing Direct Versus Indirect Measures of the
> Pedagogical Effectiveness of Team Testing"
>
> Hi Bill,
> Thanks for this paper, the work looks well done from a brief read and
> does not support any advantage of team vs individual learning on
> subsequent scores in tests. However I feel that it ignores all of the
> other components that TBL teaches students- how to work in a team,
> communication, confidence, accountability etc. It was also a modified
> form of TBL used that didn't have application exercises, and the
> quality of the multiple choice questions can't be evaluated. Students
> who have done TBL may answer questions based on rote learning the same
> as those that haven't, but may in fact be much better at solving authentic problems.
> Just some thoughts from Down Under,
> Susan
>
> Susan Hazel BVSc BSc(Vet) PhD GradCert (Public Health) MACVSc Lecturer
> in Animal Behaviour, Welfare and Ethics School of Animal & Veterinary
> Sciences THE UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE Roseworthy SA 5371 Australia
> Ph : +61 8 8303 7828
> Fax : +61 8 8303 7972
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Team-Based Learning [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Bill Goffe
> Sent: Friday, 3 February 2012 10:26 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: "Comparing Direct Versus Indirect Measures of the Pedagogical
> Effectiveness of Team Testing"
>
> In the current edition of "The Teaching Professor," there is reference
> to "Comparing Direct Versus Indirect Measures of the Pedagogical
> Effectiveness of Team Testing," Journal of Marketing Education,
> December 2011, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 348-358,
> http://jmd.sagepub.com/content/33/3/348.refs .
>
> They test something like TBL and the results aren't very positive.
> Maybe of interest? I don't see many empirical papers like this, but
> maybe I'm not looking in the right places.
>
> - Bill
>
> --
> Bill Goffe
> Department of Economics
> SUNY Oswego, 416 Mahar Hall
> Oswego, NY 13126
> 315-312-3444(v), 315-312-5444(f)
> [log in to unmask]
> http://cook.rfe.org
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