Developing critical thinking skills with activities in the life study course

Infrastructure construction at a young age will facilitate learning and development of individual critical thinking in order to learn critical thinking skills. To achieve aim this should be done systematically in the school environment. The course that makes the transition between school and life best is Life Science. Because Life Science is the most appropriate course in life and its flow. Considering in this context, the importance of education for the sub-dimensions of critical thinking skills increases, especially in the Life Studies course. Therefore, in the research, it was aimed to develop activities for primary school students to acquire the sub-dimensions of critical thinking skills in the Life Science course and to test the effectiveness of the developed activities (on critical thinking skills and dispositions). For this purpose, the activities prepared to gain the sub-dimensions of critical thinking skills were applied in the classroom environment. An explanatory sequential design, in which quantitative and qualitative processes are used together, was used in the research. . The quantitative dimension of this design was carried out according to the pre-test and post-test experimental model with the control group in order to determine the critical thinking dispositions and academic achievements of the experimental group students participating in the sessions before and after the application. On the other hand, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the experimental group classroom teacher on the qualitative aspect. The sample of the research consists of 45 students from the 3rd grade of a primary school in the Kocasinan district of Kayseri province in the 2021-2022 academic year, as 2 branches. These students were divided into two groups by random assignment. Research data were collected with the "Critical Thinking Tendency Scale" and the "Critical Thinking Achievement Test" developed by the researcher in accordance with quantitative data collection techniques. In the analysis of the collected data, unrelated samples t-test was used due to the normative distribution of the data in the intergroup comparisons. When the statistical data obtained as a result of this analysis were examined, no significant difference was observed in the critical thinking dispositions of the experimental and control group students and the pre-test results of the critical thinking achievement test. When the post-test data were analyzed, it was seen that there was a significant difference between the critical thinking disposition scores and academic achievement scores of the experimental group in favor of the experimental group, according to the critical thinking disposition score (t(43)=10.138;p<.05) and critical thinking success score. As a result; It is seen that the development of activities for primary school students to acquire the sub-dimensions of critical thinking skills in the Life Studies course and the activities developed contribute positively to the students' critical thinking disposition and academic success. Therefore, it is recommended to use these or similar activities in primary school for 3rd graders.