ABSTRACT
No matter what the course level, outcomes should require learners to go beyond the mere acquisition of facts; learning outcomes should stimulate students’ thinking abilities. The authors do not subscribe to what is occasionally described as the purpose of introductory or General Education courses: Students first have to acquire the factual knowledge base of a discipline before they can apply critical-thinking skills to this base in the higher-level classes. Reserving critical thinking for upper-level students is equivalent to postponing education until a person is already educated. Any introduction of new subject matter should involve higher-order thinking skills from the beginning and, clearly, virtually all faculty agree that critical thinking skills are required in all their courses. One might say that critical thinking is the main intended learning outcome in any college course.
