Real Option Application Project: Enhancing Students’ Analytical and Critical Thinking Skills

Enhancing students’ critical thinking skills is a widely held objective of all academic institutions and a highly desired attribute for employers, however, practical methods to develop these skills are often not well understood and not implemented. I have created a project for students in my real options course that not only helps them develop the necessary technical skills to value real options but also provides an excellent opportunity to advance their analytical and critical thinking skills. The enhancement of students’ analytical and critical thinking skills occurs because the project is a reality-based, open ended assignment, creating an opportunity for students and faculty to collaborate at different stages throughout the project. The purpose of this paper is to describe the project and to inform other instructors of the many benefits created by adopting this type of assignment, in an effort to encourage faculty to incorporate similar projects into their courses and, ultimately, to enhance the analytical and critical thinking skills of students.