This article describes the implementation and assessment of using a hierarchical model of mental growth as the basis for developing critical thinking skills and engineering judgment in engineering undergraduates. Briefly, the hierarchical cognitive model of Egan provides our roadmap for developing effective teaching and learning strategies that are applied to core engineering courses taught in the sophomore and junior years. These strategies strengthen low-level cognitive skills in sophomores and juniors that provide a proper foundation on which high-level cognitive skills can be developed. Our assessment instruments track individual students, allowing us to monitor student growth and evaluate the effectiveness of these teaching and learning strategies for populations with different exposures to experimental treatments. Results to-date indicate that a significant difference exists (p < 0.06) in metacognitive self-regulation between students who have one experimental treatment and those with two or more. The latter students are more effective at planning, monitoring, and regulating their cognitive activities than the former. They tend also to participate in a task more often for reasons such as challenge, curiosity, or mastery; and, they express more positive attitudes towards professional development.
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