Perception of first year commercial engineering students on critical thinking and teamwork competencies

Abstract

The study proposes to analyze the students' perception of the transversal competences of critical thinking and teamwork, at the beginning and end of the academic period. The research was carried out with freshmen of the Commercial Engineering degree at the Universidad Católica del Norte-Chile. The results are based on the application of two questionnaires to measure: 1) self-perception of competencies and 2) student satisfaction about the pedagogical strategies used. The average final assessment level for critical thinking and teamwork was 3.7 and 3.8 points (4.0 maximum), respectively. The use of active methodologies over the traditional methodology obtained 88% satisfaction. The assessment of the students is verified by applying different pedagogical strategies in the teaching and learning process and, in this way, contributing to achieve that students integrate transversal competences, useful for their professional performance.