Transverse Competence 'Critical Thinking' in Civil Engineering Graduate Studies: Preliminary Assessment

Abstract

Within the framework of the new graduate degrees linked to the European Convergence, and additionally to the specific qualifications of the academic degree, a group of transverse competences to prepare students in their access to the labour market once studies finished. In several courses of the graduate degrees of Civil Engineering and Public Works 10 conceptual elements, equivalent to transverse competences, have been selected for evaluation. The transverse competence known as 'critical thinking' was assigned to two courses of the second year; namely Construction Techniques and Construction Typologies. This competence is crucial for the engineer as part of his analytical skills in the face to face of the professional life. The featured communication represents the students' perception with regard to of the critical thinking during the professional practice, and based on the construction processes and typologies. Hence, an anonymous survey about the significance of the critical thinking in their skills profile has been distributed. The poll consists of 11 questions to be rated on a Likert scale. The questions relate to activities that potentially foster the acquisition of the competence 'critical thinking'. The evaluation of the former transferable skill has become a novelty within the graduate studies at UPV, and therefore needs a continuous improvement of the evaluation work along the subsequent academic years. The methodology followed aims to extract how close the 11 activities are to one another. A factor analysis through principal components is used to identify the underlying variables or factors that explain the meaning of the correlations. A multiple regression model is proposed to explain the most correlational variables. Results have led the design of activities based on active methodologies for the assessment of the critical thinking.

Assessment of the Argumentative Ability in Innovation Management of Civil Engineering Studies

“…Results indicate that the Innovation Competence is related to the effort of the student for the course, as there is a significant correlation with the voluntary assignments submitted. This is likewise verified in [5].…”

“…Recent work of the group Innovation and Quality Education (EXCELCON) of the University focused on engineering education approach, particularly on the standardization of the innovation process in construction firms [2] and towards social sustainability [3]. Additionally, the group focus on the evaluation of transverse competences such as Critical Thinking [4], [5], [6], design and project and time planning and management [7] and employability of graduates [8]. Nowadays some changes must occur if the engineering and design professions are to remain relevant and responsive to societal needs [9] and sustainable innovative practices [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] that require transverse competences to be acquired.…”

Preparing Indonesian civil engineering graduates for the world of work

“…However, their study was designed specifically to examine only communication factors and relied solely on students’ perspectives, which may not reflect the views of employers. Another study by Yepes et al (2017), focussed on critical thinking competency as one of the analytical skills graduates should have in their professional lives. Suprun et al (2019) explored digital skills for civil engineering graduates and highlighted the necessity of using digital technologies.…”

Correspondencia jerárquica entre las competencias y los resultados de aprendizaje. El caso de “Procedimientos de Construcción”

“…El candidato, junto con otros profesores de la asignatura, analizaron en distintos trabajos la valoración del pensamiento crítico como competencia transversal basada en la percepción de los estudiantes respecto a su importancia, tanto en los grados de Ingenieros de Obras Públicas como los de Ingeniería Civil (Halpern, 1989;Yepes et al, 2016;Yepes et al, 2017). Los resultados muestran como casi tres cuartas partes de los estudiantes han alcanzado suficientemente la competencia.…”