Critical reflection as students move through their disciplinary curriculum is one way to cultivate capacity for critical thinking. By embedding opportunities for critical reflection in disciplinary courses, educators can combine aspects of writing theory, metacognitive learning, and critical pedagogy to help students begin to frame how they will apply their skills and talents to problems effecting diverse populations. The new undergraduate ME curriculum combines applied learning and project-based learning methods in a series of four ME Practice courses. Technical communication instruction is also embedded in these courses, and the “capstone” of each course is a reflective essay. By responding to a series of questions, students have the opportunity to reflect on their progress and voice their thoughts about the courses and the teaching methods employed. The responses also provide insight into whether the new curriculum is meeting some of the department’s program educational objectives.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/techtalks/1050/thumbnail.jp
