Examination of the relationship between secondary school students' critical thinking dispositions and metacognitive awareness (Istanbul sample)

This study aims to examine the relationship between lower secondary school students' critical thinking dispositions and metacognitive awareness. Correlational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The participants consist of 633 lower secondary school students in Istanbul, Turkey in the 2020-2021 academic year. "UF/EMI Critical Thinking Disposition Instrument", adapted to Turkish by Şen and Ertaş Kılıç (2014), and "Metacognitive Awareness Inventory for Children", developed by Karakelle and Saraç (2007), were used as data collection tools in the research. In the analysis of the collected data, descriptive statistics, Pearson Moment Correlation and simple linear regression analysis were performed. According to the research findings, it was concluded that there were positive and significant relationships between the critical thinking dispositions and metacognitive awareness of lower secondary school students, both in the overall scale and in terms of demographic variables, at medium and high levels. In addition, the study revealed that the critical thinking dispositions of secondary school students significantly predicted their metacognitive awareness.