AT THE INTERSECTION OF CRITICAL THINKING AND ECONOMICS EDUCATION: EXPLORING WHETHER LEARNING ECONOMICS AIDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CRITICAL THINKING IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Abstract

Teaching students to think critically is the fundamental aim and overriding ideal of education. It has become increasingly clear that today’s high-tech, knowledge-based economy demands excellent critical thinking skills. The challenge as educators is to determine whether there are disciplines, subdisciplines, or courses within disciplines or subdisciplines that are better at aiding student development of critical thinking skills. Using human capital theory as the theoretical framework, this study seeks to address whether students will have statistically significantly higher critical thinking test scores after taking a Principles of Macroeconomics or Principles of Microeconomics course. Results show after analysis of the test data from both micro and macro students failed to find statistically significantly higher critical thinking test scores after taking their economics course.