Capital Community College
Critical Thinking Focus Groups, Spring 2004

Among the six classes that participated in the Critical Thinking Assignment in the spring, two were selected to serve as Focus Groups for further inquiry. They were sections of English 102, Introduction to Literature, chosen for their likelihood of including a representative sample of Capital students who have progressed beyond the entry level courses of their programs. (English 102 is required for almost all AA programs offered at the College, and it can’t be taken without a prerequisite.) The Focus Group project had two purposes:

1. To experiment with giving students more guidance with the assignment than in the other classes where the material was embedded. This was in response to a query that rose out of the fall sampling—Are students having trouble with the critical thinking task or just with understanding the directions?
2. To elicit student responses about the task, the process, and the metalanguage of critical thinking.

The project method is described in Focus Groups Design. Results are described in Reports.