Accessing multicultural issues through critical thinking, critical inquiry, and the student research process

This qualitative study describes and evaluates a pedagogical procedure that allows multicultural college freshmen to devise and research topics indigenous to their communal backgrounds. The researcher wishes to ascertain whether a method delineated by an academic procedure and limited to a classroom setting can have extended social implicationsfor the inner-city student. Specifically, critical thinking and inquiry techniques are applied to the student research paper-process, thus integrating communal issues with the academic curriculum. A further goal is to ascertain how the focus and motivation inherent in the modified research process affects student critical inquiry of text material.