Analyzing critical thinking abilities of the social studies teachers who work at the secondary stage of primary schools

In this research,critical thinking abilities of the social teachers at the secondary stage,6-7. grades of primary schools and their teaching methods intended for critical thinking have been analized from the point of some variables.The research has been formed in 2007-2008 educational year spring semester, with the 110 Social Studies teachers who work in Seyhan and Yüreğir counties in Adana province.In the research, ?Personal Information Form? , ?Critical Thinking Scale?, ?Teaching Methods Questionnaire? have been applied.The information gained in the research has been analized through statistical software package SPSS 11.5 . In the research,frequency polygons and arithmetic means of the datas gained through ?Critical Thinkink Scale? and ?Teaching Methods Questionnaire? have been shown in a descriptive way. Also, correlation analysis , independent groups t-test , one-way analysis of variance have been applied.Results gained through the research can be summarized like below;1.There is a meaningful and positive connection between the critical thinking abilities of social studies teachers and their teaching methods.2.It has been detected that teachers have a good level of critical thinking ability.But interwiew results done with the teachers don?t support this finding.3. Gender, in-service training the teachers have recieved,university graduation don?t make meaningful differences in analysing critical thinking abilities of Social Studies teachers. In wiev of professional seniority variable, a meaningful difference has occured for the good of the ones who have more seniority.4. Gender, in-service training the teachers have recieved, university graduation don?t make meaningful differences in Social Studies teachers? teaching methods intended for critical thinking. In wiev of professional seniority variable, a meaningful difference has occured for the good of the ones who have more seniority.5. It is detected that Social Studies teachers read more book and newspaper, pay attention to culturel activities, watch discussion programs, knowledge contests and documentaries in their spare time.Keywords: Thinking, Critical Thinking, Social Studies, Social Sciences, Thinking ability.