Hidden curriculum in thinking-friendly and non-thinking-friendly classrooms: How much is friend, how much is enemy?

This study investigates the relationship between the hidden curriculum created by fourth-grade primary school teachers and the extent to which their classrooms can be considered thinking-friendly learning environments. Employing a mixed research design, the Thinking-Friendly Classroom Scale was administered to three fourth-grade sections of a selected primary school, and the degree to which each classroom demonstrated the characteristics of a thinking-friendly classroom was examined. Based on the results, the classroom with the highest score (Class B) and the classroom with the lowest score (Class C) were selected for further investigation through structured classroom observations. Findings indicated that Class B fostered a student-centered environment encouraging critical and creative thinking, whereas Class C exhibited a more authoritarian and traditional structure that constrained thinking. The results highlighted the critical role of the hidden curriculum in shaping classroom climate and promoting students' thinking skills. Specifically, the teacher in Class B implicitly adopted values that involved listening to students, encouraging curiosity, and viewing mistakes as opportunities for learning, while the teacher in Class C emphasized discipline, a single correct answer, and knowledge transmission, thereby limiting the creation of a thinking-friendly environment. The study concludes that in the development of thinking-friendly classrooms, the implicit messages conveyed through the hidden curriculum are as influential as the explicit curriculum. Accordingly, it is recommended that teachers receive training to raise their awareness of the hidden curriculum and structure their classroom practices with this consciousness. Keywords: Hidden curriculum, thinking-friendly classroom, teacher behaviors that foster thinking, student behaviors that foster thinking, behaviors that hinder thinking, mixed research