Undergraduate Critical-Thinking Development: Permitted, Prompted, or Pushed?

This qualitative study explores undergraduate critical-thinking development from the perspective of students, faculty, and academic affairs administrators. We interviewed three different student cohorts at the end of both the first and second semesters of their first year at a selective liberal arts university in south/central Texas. We also interviewed all faculty members who taught these students, as well as the entire academic affairs staff that provided oversight during the year of the study. We found three distinct and viable approaches to critical-thinking development, but one stood out from the others as the most reliable means to stimulate early development.