Developing Critical Thinking in OT Education: Effectiveness of a Fishbowl Approach

This paper explores the effectiveness of peer assisted learning on developing critical thinking skills in an occupational therapy graduate course. The use of peer teaching strategies, including a Fishbowl discussion and case-based problem solving, were compared to a faculty-led lecture approach to determine which approach best prepared student critical thinking. Participants included 115 first year graduate occupational therapy students. No statistically significant differences were noted in student ability to express knowledge, comprehension, and application of information. However, statistically significant differences were noted on graduate student ability to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate using newly learned information when peer teaching strategies were used in the classroom. Therefore, the authors concluded peer assisted learning approaches may support better integration of knowledge at higher levels of Bloom’s knowledge for critical thinking than traditional faculty-led teaching approaches.