School of Thought: How First-Year Students Experience Critical Thinking in their Transition to University

Brouwer, Pien (2025) School of Thought: How First-Year Students Experience Critical Thinking in their Transition to University. Master thesis, Educational Sciences.

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Abstract

Critical thinking is widely regarded as one of the most important goals of higher education. By instilling critical thinking, students are expected to become independent learners who can navigate and deeply understand complex information and acquire new knowledge and ideas. However, reports have shown that first-year university students are not improving their critical thinking enough in their university studies. Despite this, limited research is available on students’ experiences regarding critical thinking at university. For this reason, this thesis focuses on the student voice by examining: (1) how first-year students experience the development and support of their critical thinking during their university studies, and (2) how first-year students experience the differences in critical thinking expectations and requirements between secondary education and university. To examine these questions, interviews were conducted with eight first-year bachelor students from the University of Groningen. Despite recognizing that certain levels of autonomy benefit their motivation and critical thinking development, students’ experiences often reflected variation in their preparedness for the independent critical thinking expectations at university. Since their thinking practices were often more prescribed during their secondary education, many first year students felt unaccustomed to these new demands. These results imply that critical thinking deserves more explicit instruction and guidance at universities. Keywords: critical thinking, first-year students, university, autonomy, development, support, expectations, secondary education, preparedness

Item Type:	Thesis (Master)
Supervisor name:	Mascareno Lara, M.N.
Degree programme:	Educational Sciences
Differentiation route:	Other [Master Educational Sciences]
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2025 09:42
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2025 09:42
URI:	http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5616

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