The effect of skills-based critical thinking education on critical thinking skills of 4th grade students

This study aims to determine the effect of skills-based critical thinking education on 4th-grade primary school students and finding out the opinions of students on critical thinking education. The study is mixed-method research in which both quantitative and qualitative methods are used together. The research was carried out in the second semester of 2017-2018 academic year with the participation of 4th-grade students of a state school in Pazarcik District of Kahramanmaras Province. In the quantitative part of the study, a quasi-experimental design with pre-test post-test control group was used. In line with the aim of this research, Edward De Bono's Cort1 critical thinking program was applied to the students in the experimental group, and Personal Information Form and Critical Thinking Scale were utilized to collect data. The data were analyzed with SPSS 24.0 package program. In the qualitative part of the study, the semi-structured interview form was used to find out the students' opinions. The data obtained were analyzed by descriptive analysis. The pre-test and post-test scores of experimental and control groups for sub-dimensions of analysis, evaluation, interpretation, self-regulation were compared, and as a result of this research, a statistically significant difference was determined in favor of the experimental group. In terms of inference and explanation sub-dimensions, the scores of the experimental group students were higher than the scores of the control group students, but no statistically significant difference was found between them. Furthermore, no statistically significant difference was found between the sub-dimensions of inference, explanation and self-regulation and the post-test and permanence scores of the experimental group students. In the analysis and evaluation sub-dimensions, a statistically significant difference was found between the post-test and permanence scores of the control group students in favor of the permanence scores. It was concluded that the experimental group students to whom Edward De BONO's Cort 1 thinking program was applied used the terms related to critical thinking, that they wanted the critical thinking skills education to be continuous, and that they had positive thoughts about the program. Keywords: Skills based critical thinking, cort 1, critical thinking education