CUREs (course-based undergraduate research experiences) are becoming increasingly popular, implemented at hundreds of colleges and universities across the US. One widely-cited study found that at least 45 percent of students in its sample did not demonstrate any statistically significant improvement in their reasoning and communication skills during their first two years of college. Spurred by such findings, educators have sought to engineer new approaches. One that seems to be working: asking undergraduates to conduct actual scientific research through CUREs.
Develop Students’ Critical Thinking Skills
For social psychologist Irving Janis, Pearl Harbor was a perfect example of what he called “groupthink” in a 1971 article in Psychology Today. For Janis, groupthink was at the heart of some of the worst disasters and poorest decisions in world history, including Pearl Harbor. Today groupthink continues to help explain many large-scale blunders and problems, from the 2008 financial crisis to social media pile-on.
