The analysis of the power of mathematics teaching degree students on the basis of certain variables

This dissertation is entitled ?The analysis of the critical thinking power levels of would-be mathematics teachers? through some variables?. The goal of the dissertation is to analyze the critical thinking power levels of Mathematics Teaching degree students. The problem sentence of the dissertation is: Do the critical thinking power levels of Mathematics Teaching students differ according to his/her success in analytic geometry, sex, the settlement in which the high school they graduated from is located, his/her parents? educational background, his/her family?s socio-economic level, their departments (primary/ secondary school) and whether they receive day or night education? In this research, survey model has been employed. The basis of the research involves 3rd ?year Primary School Mathematics Teaching degree students (both day and night education) and 2nd-year Secondary School Mathematics Teaching degree students from Buca Education Faculty, Dokuz Eylül University. The subjects are 3rd-year Primary School Mathematics Teaching degree students (both day and night education) and 2nd-year Secondary School Mathematics Teaching degree students studying in the 2006/2007 teaching term from Buca Education Faculty, ?zmir. There are 167 subjects. In order to determine students? critical thinking power, ?Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, Form YM? has been employed. In order to determine degree students? academic success in Analytic Geometry, students? grades and their transcripts have been taken from the Student Affairs. The data taken from a scale used for the research have been evaluated by the SPSS-13 program. In the analysis of the data obtained during the research, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation and correlation have been used in the case of the description of the data. As for the comparison of the two groups and multiple groups, t-test analysis and single variance analysis have been used, respectively. Results obtained as a consequence of the research are to be summarized as follows: ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between the critical thinking power levels of Mathematics Teaching degree students and their success in analytic geometry lessons. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between Mathematics Teaching degree students? sex and their critical thinking power. Only one difference has been spotted in favour of girls between the sub-divisions of critical thinking power (reasoning) and Mathematics Teaching degree students? sex. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between the critical thinking power levels of Mathematics Teaching degree students and the settlement in which the high school they graduated from is located. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between the grades of Mathematics Teaching degree students? critical thinking power levels and their mothers? educational background. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between the grades of Mathematics Teaching degree students? critical thinking power levels and their fathers? educational background. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between the grades of Mathematics Teaching degree students? critical thinking power levels and their families? socio-economic level. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between the grades of Mathematics Teaching degree students? critical thinking power levels and the department in which they study. There is only one meaningful difference in favour of Primary School Mathematics Teaching degree students between the sub-divisions of Mathematics Teaching degree students? critical thinking power levels (evaluation of opposite ideas) and the department in which they study. ? There is no meaningful discrepancy between Mathematics Teaching degree students? critical thinking powers and whether they receive day or night education. ? An overwhelming majority of would-be Mathematics Teachers (68.2%) enjoy an average critical thinking power.