Measuring Critical Thinking Using Challenge-Based Learning in the COVID-19 Era to Evaluate the Complexity-Reasoning Competence

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the students attended classes in different formats, hybrid, and face-to-face, according to the pandemic evolution. The objective of this research is to assess the competence of Complexity-Reasoning through Critical Thinking (SEG0502A), sub-competence by TEC21 in a basic level of performance for engineering students, with a survey using the Watson-Glaser instrument to measure the competence in the process of solving an engineering challenge in the Mechatronics Laboratory. The challenge consisted in the development of a Cyber-Physical System to monitor the status of manufacturing machinery during Fall 2021 (19 students) and Spring 2022 (24 students) in hybrid and face-to-face formats, respectively. The results indicate that the accomplishment of the Critical Thinking sub-competence showed a success percentage of 52.63% for Fall 2021 and 41.67% for Spring 2022. To improve reliable results, inference questions must ensure unique and differentiated answers from the Watson-Glaser instrument survey.