Self-perception of critical thinking in university students in times of pandemic

Abstract

The study was conducted with the purpose of knowing the level of critical thinking of university students, from their self-perception, in times of pandemic, at the Faculty of Education and Humanities of the National University of Santa-Peru. The research was basic, descriptive-propositional, non-experimental, cross-sectional. A survey was applied to 321 university students, through a questionnaire previously submitted to expert judgment to determine its validity and to the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient, which demonstrated a coefficient of 0.897, highly reliable. The results indicate that when obtaining the average of the seven dimensions evaluated (interpretation, clarification, analysis, evaluation, intellectual empathy, transformative vision, problem solving), 81.2% of university students are at a medium level of critical thinking development, 16% are at the high level and 2.8% are at the low level. Based on the results achieved, a proposal of methodological strategies is put forward to strengthen critical thinking in university students, based on Vygotsky, Stemberg and Freire, using case study strategies, problem-based learning and project-oriented learning.