Casting the Net of Critical Thinking: A Look into the Collegiate Leadership Classroom Open Access

As the leadership classroom is becoming more diverse in the student demographic make-up it is important to establish what the impacts of those differences are on learning leadership. In this paper the essential element of leadership analyzed was critical thinking disposition. Participants were analyzed for differences in critical thinking disposition by the selected demographics of age, gender, GPA, honors enrollment, and major college classification. Using the EMI, it was found that there were no statistical differences in the total disposition constructs of innovativeness, cognitive maturity, or engagement. There were, however, differences in individual statements and mean scores. Considering the classroom landscape, an educator must often move beyond statistical significance to identify means which meet student needs. In essence, some of the most subtle differences in students create the biggest challenges. Research findings are used to make recommendations for increasing student capacity for critical thinking in the collegiate leadership classroom.