Implementation of activities supported by critical thinking in the 6th-grade science course: An action research

In this study, it was aimed to observe the implementation process of activities supported by critical thinking in the 6th grade Science course and the effect of this process in the context of critical thinking on students, to describe the effect of their families on students' critical thinking skills, and to get the opinions of the students participating in the practice. The research was carried out through distance education due to the Covid-19 Pandemic in a state secondary school where the researcher is still working in Bursa Osmangazi during the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. The study group of the research consisted of 9 students studying in this secondary school. The study was carried out with a qualitative research design. Five sub-problems were determined in line with the study. The data of the study; Audio recordings taken during the implementation of the action plans, audio recordings of semistructured first and last interviews, Student Identification Form applied to 29 students, semistructured student diaries and researcher diaries were obtained. The data obtained were evaluated with content analysis and descriptive analysis, and the action research design was used in the research. According to the results of the research, it was seen that the 6th grade students' critical thinking skills should be developed according to their prior knowledge and status in the context of critical thinking for the first sub-problem. Regarding the second sub-problem, it was that the family, one of the environmental factors, was a directive in the students' critical thinking skills. Action plans for the third sub-problem, supported by critical thinking, were found to be effective in developing positive attitudes towards critical thinking and improving critical thinking skills. For the fourth sub-problem, improvement was observed in the critical thinking skills of each student, according to their situation before the application. For the fifth subproblem, although some students found some studies difficult, they generally enjoyed, found it interesting and useful; It was seen that they had a positive approach to the study.