Analysis of analytical thinking skills of 4th grade primary school students in terms of various variables

This study aimed to determine the analytical thinking skill levels of 4th grade primary school students and to examine whether these levels show significant differences based on various demographic and environmental variables. Within this scope, the effects of factors such as gender, parental education level, access to technological devices at home, having a personal room, and habits related to reading and educational activities on students' analytical thinking skills were evaluated. The sample of the research consisted of 600 4th grade students studying at seven different primary schools located in the city center of Afyonkarahisar during the 2023–2024 academic year. The data collection process was carried out in the second semester of the 2023–2024 academic year. As the data collection tool, the "Analytical Thinking Skills Scale" developed by Kocaman (2021), consisting of 29 items and four sub-dimensions—ranking, classification, comparison, and evaluation—was used. The total and sub-dimension scores obtained from the scale were used as the basis for determining students' analytical thinking levels. After conducting normality tests on the data, the independent samples t-test was used to examine differences between two groups, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare three or more groups. For variables with significant differences in ANOVA, the Tukey HSD test was applied to identify the source of the difference. The findings revealed that female students had significantly higher analytical thinking scores than male students. Similarly, students whose parents had postgraduate education levels, students who had access to a computer or tablet at home, those who had their own rooms, students who read science fiction books, played intelligence games, or had hobbies showed significantly higher analytical thinking skills. Similar trends were observed in all four sub-dimensions of the scale. On the other hand, no significant differences were found based on residential area, type of TV programs watched, or attendance at private courses.