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BBednarz
Dr.Bob Bednarz,
Geography 306

MEzell
Dr. Margaret Ezell,
English 481

D Maxwell
Dr. Don Maxwell,
Engineering 111-112

ASrinivasa
Dr. Arun Srinivasa,
Engineering 111-112

Best Practices in Inquiry and Research-based Education at Texas A&M University
Vignette Series

This series of vignettes describe actual courses offered at Texas A&M University.  All of these courses were included in the Inquiry and Research-based Course Inventory in 2006. All courses entered into the inventory were analyzed based on seven characteristics of critical thinking that the QEP council decided are important components of a student’s undergraduate education and should be emulated in inquiry- and research-based courses.  The characteristics the QEP council decided on were that inquiry and research-based courses should help students be better able to:

      • Assimilate facts;
      • Recognize unanswered questions;
      • Formulate strategies for seeking answers;
      • Investigate appropriately;
      • Draw valid conclusions;
      • Communicate effectively and;
      • Critically analyze.

Each of the six courses was chosen to be part of this vignette series based on its promotion of the above characteristics. The professors who taught the courses generously provided their time for an interview from which the vignettes were written.

Each vignette, save one, begins with a brief overview of the course, continues with details of the procedures through which the course objectives were realized and concludes with a description of how the course promotes each of the seven characteristics listed above. Inquiry and research-based instruction forms the basis for each of these five courses and all seven characteristics permeate their construction.

One of the courses is not a course that focused solely on inquiry but one that was taught in a more traditional style. This course was chosen to be featured in this series because it provided a wonderful and practical example of how a large, traditional course may integrate a project which encouraged students to develop some of the above characteristics as they applied the information they were learning to the world they knew and understood.
It is our sincerest hope that as you read these vignettes you may be able to take away ideas for how you can help students develop critical thinking abilities that will aid them throughout their lives after college.

Read a summary of all vignettes, or choose full vignettes by clicking on photos from the side menus.   Enjoy!

Vignette Home

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MBoggess
Dr. May Boggess,
Statistics 407

SLampo
Dr.Sandi Lampo,
Marketing 325

SPopescu
Dr. Sorin Popescu,
RENR 444

 

 
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