The Role of Critical Thinking Skills in Teaching of Computer Literacy in the Community College

This study examined the effect of infusing Richard Paul’s critical thinking
model into a computer literacy course. It studied community college students’ abilities to
perform better in the discipline of computer literacy, as well as achieve an improved
knowledge of a disposition toward critical thinking when compared to a control group not
receiving the critical thinking treatment.
Six sections of the Introduction to Computers class were randomly selected for
this one-semester quasi experimental study, with three randomly placed in the
experimental group and the other three in the control group. The only instructional
difference between the groups was the infusion of critical thinking into the experimental
group (n = 46). The control group (n = 46) was taught without this approach.
Both groups were given a pre- and post-test measure of both critical thinking and
computer literacy during the course of the study. While the quantitative findings showed
no significant differences between the groups in understanding of the critical thinking
model used in the study during the course of one semester, statistically significant
improvements in computer literacy were noted in the experimental group.
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Three major conclusions emerged from this study: (1.) When infusing critical
thinking into the curriculum, community college students are able to significantly
improve computer literacy skills in a single course. (2.) By making expectations clear for
students, explicitly teaching the model of critical thinking, and promoting active learning
through the interaction of the material utilizing critical thinking concepts, students were
better able to learn computer literacy. (3.) Infusing Richard Paul’s model into a computer
literacy class over a single semester may have no effect on students’ abilities to learn the
model of critical thinking itself, at least as assessed by the test instrument used in this
study. Several potential explanations for this finding are discussed herein.