This article is a report of the impact of an innovative assignment within an upper-division gerontology course in a public university. Although designed to enhance the understanding of important aging concepts for students in a Family Studies program, analysis of student writings revealed an increased understanding of the actual subject…

Increasingly, national stakeholders express concern that U.S. college graduates cannot adequately solve problems and think critically. As a set of cognitive abilities, critical thinking skills provide students with tangible academic, personal, and professional benefits that may ultimately address these concerns. As an instructional method, writing…