The effectiveness of the transformational learning model on the critical thinking tendency and on the meta-cognitive awareness of the students in the 6th grade science course

Transformational learning can be defined as the stage in which experiences and structural differences are formed, changes in feelings, thoughts and in behaviors are observed and new perspectives arise. Transformational learning occurs in the cognitive structure. In this process, there are differences in the habits, the points of view and the individual's perceptions. These differences are structured in a loop configuration of the individual's metacognitive. Individuals approach critically to every piece of information they constructed by using their metacognitive and use it to solve new problems. For this reason, the information obtained by the transformational learning model is constantly interrogated in the cognitive structure of the individuals and is transferred to be applied to new situations. From this point of view, the problem statement of the research has been determined as the effects of the methods using the transformational learning model on the individual's critical thinking and cognitive awareness. The study group of this research was selected as Mustafa Kemal Secondary School, which is a public school in the district of Güngören in Istanbul. As a sample, 2 branches were selected from the 6th grade. The experimental group consists of 31 students and the control group consists of 29 students. The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), the Cognitive Awareness Scale, the semi-structured interview form and student diaries are the data collection tools of the research using the dominant-less dominant mixed method. In the study, parametric tests were used to analyze data for which the distribution was normal; descriptive and content analysis methods were used in the analysis of the data obtained in the semi-structured interview form, and citations were also made through the document review. According to the findings obtained from the analysis of the research, some results can be listed as follows: There was a significant difference between the average of the pre-test and post-test cognitive awareness scores of the experimental group students subjected to the application of the transformational learning model. There was a significant difference between the average of the pre-test and post-test critical thinking tendency scores of the experimental group students subjected to the application of the transformational learning model. According to these findings, it was found that students in the experimental group that were subjected to application of the transformational learning theory have higher scores than the students in the control group that were not subjected to application of the transformational learning model. It has been seen that the activities of transformational learning model have given students the habit of conducting research from different sources. It has been concluded that students can develop new ideas, discuss these ideas and link them to real life information by combining the information they have gained from various sources. Keywords: Transformational Learning, Critical Thinking, Metacognitive Awareness.