Critical Thinking Dispositions of Agricultural Communications Students

Chalkboards to Virtual Environments: Technology's Role in Expanding the Classroom to Provide Professional Development and Education for Agricultural Communicators

“…Bisdorf- Rhoades et al (2005) found a need for students to engage and expand their critical thinking skills. One might ask, "is it possible that our use of technology could meet this need?"…”

“…Researchers have also studied critical thinking (Bisdorf-Rhoades, Ricketts, Irani, Lundy, & Telg, 2005) and learning styles (Cartmell, Majors, Ashlock, & Sitton, 2007) in the context of agricultural communications. Bisdorf- Rhoades et al (2005) found that agricultural communications students were "highly innovative in their thinking" (p. 25) but not necessarily critical in their thinking. This study spoke to the fact that educators need to encourage and facilitate the critical thinking process of students to better prepare them for the workplace.…”

Bridging Borders: Organizing Short-Term Agricultural Communication Exchange Programs

“…The advisers involved wanted to examine whether an international experience would strengthen students' critical thinking dispositions . After receiving approval from the University of Florida Institutional Review Board, advisers developed a survey instrument based on previous research in critical thinking (Bisdorf-Rhoades, Ricketts, Irani, Lundy, & Telg, 2005) to gauge students' critical thinking dispositions. The researchers conducted tests both before and after the two-week exchange program to ascertain whether students' critical thinking dispositions had increased as a result of the studyabroad experience.…”

“…The development of critical thinking skills in agricultural audiences has also been identified as an especially important need, based on findings that suggest potential deficiencies in students' abilities to think critically (Rudd, Baker, & Hoover, 2000). Research also has suggested a potentially important need to improve the critical thinking dispositions of agricultural communications students (Bisdorf-Rhoades, Ricketts, Irani, Lundy, & Telg, 2005;Telg & Irani, 2005). Pairing an international experience with these skill sets creates a desirable combination.…”

A Critical Thinking Benchmark for a Department of Agricultural Education and Studies

“…Some research suggested the rate of critical thinking development among males is higher than females (King, Wood, & Mines, 1990), while other research suggested females possess higher critical thinking abilities (Bers et al, 1996;Rudd et al, 2000). Yet, sex has also been shown to possess limited (Jacobs, 1995) to no significant influence on critical thinking ability (Brahmasrene & Whitten, 2011;Brisdorf-Rhoades, Ricketts, Irani, Lundy, & Telg, 2005;Burbach, Matkin, Quinn, & Searle, 2012;Friedel, Irani, Rhoades et al, 2008;Friedel, Irani, Rudd et al, 2008).…”