Help Fund My Dissertation Research
Donation protected
Teaching students to think critically is arguably the Holy Grail of education. The purpose of this study is to empirically test whether simply learning economics can improve high school students’ critical thinking abilities as measured by a nationally normed assessment of both economics understanding and critical thinking skills. A 2010 study found a correlation between the growth in critical thinking skills and the growth in their own community college students' understanding of economics.
The money I raise in this campaign will be used exclusively to offset the cost of assessing students' critical thinking skills. The instrument used to measure high school students' critical thinking skills will be the Cornell Critical Thinking Test. It costs $3.99 per student and will be administered as a pre- and post-test. Researchers are entitled to 20% off making per student cost only $6.38.
To investigate whether students who have taken an introductory economics course have statistically significantly higher critical thinking post-test scores than their peers who have not taken a such a course, an Analysis of Covariance (one-way ANCOVA) will be conducted to assess differences between groups on a single dependent variable after controlling for the effects of one or more covariates. The F-test of significance will be used to assess for differences. If significance is found, comparison of the pre-and post-test group means can provide information. Additionally, a linear regression will be conducted to investigate whether or not growth in economic understanding predicts critical thinking growth.
My dissertation committee is made up of three people. Dr. James Hardy, Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, chairs the committee. Dr. Barbara F. Tobolowsky is an Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and Dr. Timothy Wunder is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics.
I am a twice-honorably discharged Army Infantry and Desert Storm veteran. After my military service I leveraged my personal computer experience—something that was at a premium at that time—to find employment in the budding IT industry in Austin, Texas. I was an early victim of the dot-com bubble burst several years later, in part because I lacked a college degree. By 2007 I made the decision to go to college, having grown weary of taking any job I could. I graduated cum laude in 2010 at the age of 42 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in mathematics. I worked my way through graduate school as a highly qualified and certified high school math and economics teacher and graduated in December 2013 with a master's degree in economics. I currently teach dual credit and advanced placement economics at a suburban high school east of Dallas and am an adjunct professor of economics at several colleges in the DFW metroplex. I also attend doctoral classes in the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies department at the University of Texas at Arlington.
The money I raise in this campaign will be used exclusively to offset the cost of assessing students' critical thinking skills. The instrument used to measure high school students' critical thinking skills will be the Cornell Critical Thinking Test. It costs $3.99 per student and will be administered as a pre- and post-test. Researchers are entitled to 20% off making per student cost only $6.38.
To investigate whether students who have taken an introductory economics course have statistically significantly higher critical thinking post-test scores than their peers who have not taken a such a course, an Analysis of Covariance (one-way ANCOVA) will be conducted to assess differences between groups on a single dependent variable after controlling for the effects of one or more covariates. The F-test of significance will be used to assess for differences. If significance is found, comparison of the pre-and post-test group means can provide information. Additionally, a linear regression will be conducted to investigate whether or not growth in economic understanding predicts critical thinking growth.
My dissertation committee is made up of three people. Dr. James Hardy, Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, chairs the committee. Dr. Barbara F. Tobolowsky is an Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, and Dr. Timothy Wunder is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics.
I am a twice-honorably discharged Army Infantry and Desert Storm veteran. After my military service I leveraged my personal computer experience—something that was at a premium at that time—to find employment in the budding IT industry in Austin, Texas. I was an early victim of the dot-com bubble burst several years later, in part because I lacked a college degree. By 2007 I made the decision to go to college, having grown weary of taking any job I could. I graduated cum laude in 2010 at the age of 42 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in mathematics. I worked my way through graduate school as a highly qualified and certified high school math and economics teacher and graduated in December 2013 with a master's degree in economics. I currently teach dual credit and advanced placement economics at a suburban high school east of Dallas and am an adjunct professor of economics at several colleges in the DFW metroplex. I also attend doctoral classes in the Educational Leadership & Policy Studies department at the University of Texas at Arlington.
Organizer
Jack Reynolds
Organizer
Arlington, TX
