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New Liberal Learning Curriculum, to be implemented in fall 2006, contains two “Areas of Inquiry” that directly load on this portion of Vision 2010: Formal and Informal Reasoning, which correspond to critical thinking; and Creative Expressions, which corresponds to innovative thinking.

Results

Because the new liberal learning curriculum has not been implemented, learning outcomes data have not yet been collected for the two areas of inquiry. In preparation for this new curriculum, a comprehensive assessment plan has been designed that addresses Formal and Informal Reasoning and Creative Expressions, which correspond to critical thinking and innovative thinking respectively.

Regarding the current curriculum, CNU has several sources of information that bear light on this area: Freshmen (in the fall of 2005) took the ACT CAAP Critical Thinking Test performed about the same (average 51 st percentile) compared to the norming group. To ascertain how much they have gained as a result of their experiences at CNU, these same students will be tested again in the spring of 2008. In addition, students' responses on NSSE and IDEA items on critical thinking reveal that they perceive they have gained about the same amount of skills as the selected peer group.