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Building Reasoning Skills in Microeconomics Through On-Line Discussion Boards

The technology of on-line discussion boards can have pedagogical value in the development of student critical thinking skills. Students in an introduction to microeconomics course at a small liberal arts college were required to participate for grade in a series of four discussions on various real-life topics. A scoring measurement for critical thinking was devised and used to analyze the students' postings. Evidence is presented that as a group the students' logical reasoning skill increased as represented by their postings on the message board increased during the course of the semester.