Critical thinking development through the implementation of problem-based learning

Abstract The current educational process involves the teacher and the student in active roles applying new strategies. The purpose of the study was to determine if the application of Problem-Based Learning in Biomedical Engineering students at a private university in Bogotá can favor the achievement of generic competences, especially critical thinking. The type of study was mixed, quasi-experimental and transactional. It was used for the quantitative approach, through a questionnaire of individual generic competences validated by Olivares and Wong (2013), associated with three dimensions of critical thinking: interpretation, judgment and inference. In turn, they were evaluated qualitatively by heading four categories related to the teaching strategy: autonomy, participation, communication and critical thinking disposition. Although the quantitative approach did not produce decisive results for the change in critical thinking, changes were found through qualitative analysis, especially in analysis, interpretation and evaluation.