A STUDY OF ENGINEERING STUDENTS' CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

The development of students' critical thinking skills is one the main purposes of higher education institutions. Regarding this point, the main purpose of this study is the investigation of current status of critical thinking skills among engineering students. Such studies can increase faculties' attention to critical thinking skills. Research population was all students in the University of Kashan in the academic year of 2013-2014. Research sample (211 participants) was selected randomly. Research tool was California Critical Thinking Skills that assesses the mentioned skills in five interrelated domains: analysis, evaluation, deductive thinking, and inductive thinking. Findings showed that the average of engineering students' critical thinking score is higher than the scores obtained by students from other faculties. But the average is still far from universal norm. The study showed that universities and higher education institutions should consider critical thinking skills more in engineering curriculum. In addition, faculties in engineering courses can play an important role in improving critical thinking skills.