Development of Critical Thinking: Methodology to Promote Learning in Engineering

Abstract

The ability to conceptualize, analyze, synthesize, evaluate and decide on the most convenient solution in a problematic situation is one of the skills that engineers must have for the effective and efficient performance of their duties. The University has as part of its mission, the permanent improvement of society, through the development of new knowledge, among them, the learning of critical thinking. The objective of this work is to carry out a review of the strategies for the development of critical thinking in engineering students, to formulate a methodological proposal that allows promoting this learning. The methodology called Desk Research was used, under which different strategies and methods were systematized to formulate an innovative proposal to develop critical thinking in the 4,322 students enrolled in engineering careers, taught at the Technical University of Manabí-Ecuador. As a result, it was possible to determine a methodology that contemplates physical and virtual environments, based on the experiences of Latin American universities, which have managed to make significant changes in their pedagogical methods and strategies for the development of critical thinking, as transversal skills necessary to develop in the training of engineers.