Creative thinking, critical thinking and scientific process skills as predictors of preschool teachers' attitude towards scientific research

The general purpose of this research is to examine the predictive level of critical thinking, creative thinking and scientific process skills variables on preschool teachers' attitudes towards scientific research with a structural equation model and to evaluate these variables descriptively. The study group of this research, designed according to the general screening model, consists of 255 pre-school teachers working in kindergartens affiliated to Şanlıurfa province Eyyübiye, Haliliye and Karaköprü District National Education Directorates in the 2023-2024 academic year. Research data were collected through "Scientific Process Skills Test", "Marmara Creative Thinking Tendencies Scale", "Critical Thinking Tendencies Scale and "Attitude Towards Scientific Research Scale". Data for the sub-objectives of the research were collected using frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean and standard deviation techniques; The data regarding the hypotheses of the research were analyzed with EFA, CFA and Structural Equation Model (SEM). The following results were obtained regarding the sub-objectives of the research: Regarding the first sub-objective of the research, it was concluded that the scientific process skill levels of preschool teachers were above average. Regarding the second sub-goal, it was concluded that the creative thinking skill levels of preschool teachers are above average. Regarding the third sub-objective of the research, it was determined that the critical thinking skill levels of preschool teachers were above average. Regarding the fourth sub-objective of the research, it was concluded that preschool teachers' attitude levels towards scientific research were above average. Regarding the research hypotheses: As a result of the main hypothesis of the research, it was determined that critical thinking, creative thinking and scientific process skills together significantly affect and explain attitudes towards scientific research. In an other saying; It was concluded that the use of critical thinking, creative thinking and scientific process skills are important predictors of preschool teachers' attitudes towards scientific research. As a result of the results obtained from the research, various suggestions were presented.