| Abstract | Students who complete an undergraduate degree program at Michigan State University are expected to demonstrate an enhanced ability to think analytically. While the development of this ability is a primary learning goal in almost every class at MSU, most classes do not actually focus on developing analytical thinking. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an MSU undergraduate program at enhancing analytical thinking. Students in an integrative studies-biology class (ISB 208) served as the study population. Students in ISB 208 were chosen as the study population because the students enrolled in ISB 208 cover numerous majors and all stages of an MSU undergraduate education, from first year to fourth year. Analytical thinking was assessed by administering a survey on Angel. Students were asked to self-report their G.P.A, credits earned and major unit, in addition to other information about their background. They were then presented with a limited amount of information about two hypothetical colleges. Students were asked to make a decision about which college they would attend based on the information presented. Students were then asked to evaluate how reliable each piece of information was and to infer how relevant each piece of information was to the decision to be made. The evaluations of the reliability of information and the inferences made on the relevancy of information were used as the measure of analytical thinking. I found no effect of an MSU undergraduate education on evaluation or inference making skills. However, I did find a significant positive relationship between evaluation ability and G.P.A. My results indicate that an undergraduate degree program at MSU may not have the desired effect on student analytical thinking. Thus, it may be beneficial to alter the MSU undergraduate curriculum so that it focuses more on developing analytical thinking. |
