IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/coecpo/v28y2010i1p80-93.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evidence On The Relationship Between Economics And Critical Thinking Skills

Author

Listed:
  • MARY O. BORG
  • HARRIET A. STRANAHAN

Abstract

This research provides empirical support for the hypothesis that learning economics increases a student’s critical thinking skills. Using the short form of the Watson‐Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA‐S) as our measure of critical thinking skills, we find that students who gain a high level of economic understanding in their introductory economics class, as measured by the Test of Understanding College Economics (TUCE), have statistically significant gains in their WGCTA‐S scores. Students who spend more time taking classes and are more fully engaged in the university experience also have greater gains in critical thinking. These results lend support to the idea that introductory economics courses can work in concert with other university level courses, especially within the context of a full‐time curriculum, to enhance critical thinking skills. (JEL A22)

Suggested Citation

  • Mary O. Borg & Harriet A. Stranahan, 2010. "Evidence On The Relationship Between Economics And Critical Thinking Skills," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 28(1), pages 80-93, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:28:y:2010:i:1:p:80-93
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2008.00134.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2008.00134.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1465-7287.2008.00134.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven A. Greenlaw & Stephen B. Deloach, 2003. "Teaching Critical Thinking with Electronic Discussion," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 36-52, January.
    2. Mary O. Borg & Harriet A. Stranahan, 2002. "Personality Type and Student Performance in Upper-Level Economics Courses: The Importance of Race and Gender," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 3-14, January.
    3. Eric A. Hanushek & Lori L. Taylor, 1990. "Alternative Assessments of the Performance of Schools: Measurement of State Variations in Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 25(2), pages 179-201.
    4. Feiner, Susan & Roberts, Bruce, 1995. "Using Alternative Paradigms to Teach about Race and Gender: A Critical Thinking Approach to Introductory Economics," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(2), pages 367-371, May.
    5. Dennis J. Palmini, 1996. "Using Rhetorical Cases to Teach Writing Skills and Enhance Economic Learning," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(3), pages 205-216, July.
    6. Janet T. Knoedler & Daniel A. Underwood, 2003. "Teaching the Principles of Economics: A Proposal for a Multi-paradigmatic Approach," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(3), pages 697-725, September.
    7. Stephen B. Deloach & Steven A. Greenlaw, 2005. "Do Electronic Discussions Create Critical Thinking Spillovers?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 149-163, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Robst, John & VanGilder, Jennifer, 2016. "Salary and job satisfaction among economics and business graduates: The effect of match between degree field and job," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 30-40.
    2. Renjith Kumar.R & Rajani James, 2015. "Evaluation of Critical Thinking in Higher Education in Oman," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 4(3), pages 1-33, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Stephen B. Deloach & Steven A. Greenlaw, 2005. "Do Electronic Discussions Create Critical Thinking Spillovers?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 23(1), pages 149-163, January.
    2. Hart Hodges & Yvonne Durham & Steve Henson, 2018. "Economic Education Production Functions for the Principles of Macroeconomics and the Principles of Microeconomics: Is There a Difference?," Journal for Economic Educators, Middle Tennessee State University, Business and Economic Research Center, vol. 18(2), pages 22-41, Fall.
    3. Elizabeth Perry-Sizemore & Steven A. Greenlaw, 2011. "Writing for Learning in Economics," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 12, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Corak, Miles & Lauzon, Darren, 2009. "Differences in the distribution of high school achievement: The role of class-size and time-in-term," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 189-198, April.
    5. Brasington, D. M., 2003. "The supply of public school quality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 367-377, August.
    6. Mingliang Li, 2006. "High school completion and future youth unemployment: new evidence from High School and Beyond," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 23-53.
    7. David Brasington & Don Haurin, 2005. "Capitalization of Parent, School, and Peer Group Components of School Quality into House Price," Departmental Working Papers 2005-04, Department of Economics, Louisiana State University.
    8. Theodore M. Crone, 2006. "Capitalization of the quality of local public schools: what do home buyers value?," Working Papers 06-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    9. Hanushek, Eric A. & Pace, Richard R., 1995. "Who chooses to teach (and why)?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 101-117, June.
    10. Andrew Mearman, 2012. "Pluralist economics curricula: do they work; and how would we know?," Working Papers 20121203, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    11. Jonathan B. Wight, 1999. "Using Electronic Data Tools in Writing Assignments," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 21-27, January.
    12. Son Nghiem & Ha Trong Nguyen & Luke B. Connelly, 2016. "The Efficiency of Australian Schools: A Nationwide Analysis Using Gains in Test Scores of Students as Outputs," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 35(3), pages 256-268, September.
    13. Christopher Magee, 2009. "Do Professors’ Opinions Affect Students?," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(2-3), pages 135-151, January.
    14. Shawna Grosskopf & Kathy J. Hayes & Lori L. Taylor & William L. Weber, 1997. "Budget-Constrained Frontier Measures Of Fiscal Equality And Efficiency In Schooling," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 79(1), pages 116-124, February.
    15. Grosskopf, Shawna & Hayes, Kathy J. & Taylor, Lori L. & Weber, William L., 2001. "On the Determinants of School District Efficiency: Competition and Monitoring," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(3), pages 453-478, May.
    16. Wilfred Dolfsma & Patrick J. Welch, 2009. "Paradigms and Novelty in Economics: The History of Economic Thought as a Source of Enlightenment," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(5), pages 1085-1106, November.
    17. Susana Faria & Maria Conceição Portela, 2016. "Student Performance in Mathematics using PISA-2009 data for Portugal," Working Papers de Gestão (Management Working Papers) 01, Católica Porto Business School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
    18. KimMarie McGoldrick & Robert Garnett, 2013. "Big Think: A Model for Critical Inquiry in Economics Courses," The Journal of Economic Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(4), pages 389-398, October.
    19. David Brasington, 1999. "Which Measures of School Quality Does the Housing Market Value?," Journal of Real Estate Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 395-413, January.
    20. Booker, Kevin & Gilpatric, Scott M. & Gronberg, Timothy & Jansen, Dennis, 2007. "The impact of charter school attendance on student performance," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(5-6), pages 849-876, June.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • A22 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Undergraduate

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:coecpo:v:28:y:2010:i:1:p:80-93. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/weaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.