Analysis of classroom teachers' tendencies to direct students to critical thinking

This research was carried out to determine the tendency of primary school teachers to direct students to critical thinking and determine whether independent variables such as gender, educational status and professional experience have an effect on this tendency. The research has a descriptive feature in the survey model. In the research, it was tried to describe the tendencies of the primary school teachers towards critical thinking as they exist. The target population of the research consists of primary school teachers working in primary schools affiliated to the Ministry of Education in the central districts of Ankara in 2020-2021. Cluster sampling method was used to determine the research sample. For this purpose, randomly selected primary school teachers working in primary schools affiliated to the Ministry of National Education in Altındağ and Mamak, which were randomly selected among the central districts, were included in the research. The data were collected with the 51-item, five-point Likert-type "Classroom Teachers' Tendency to Direct Students to Critical Thinking scale" developed by the researcher and tested for validity and reliability. The data collected in the research were analyzed through the SPSS package program. As a result of the normality tests for the total score of the scale, it was determined that the total score did not show a normal distribution, and based on this result, non-parametric statistics were used in the analysis of the data. In this context, Mann Whitney U-Test was used in the analysis of variables consisting of two unrelated categories, and Kruskal Wallis H test was used in the analysis of variables consisting of more than two unrelated categories. Considering the lowest and highest scores that can be obtained from the scale, it was determined that the tendency of classroom teachers to direct students to critical thinking was at "moderate" level. Considering the independent variables such as gender, educational background and professional experience of the teachers to whom the scale was applied; it was observed that the average score obtained from the scale did not differ according to gender but differed according to educational status and professional seniority. It has been determined that this difference is in favor of teachers who have completed postgraduate education and teachers who have 5-10 years of professional experience.