Critical Thinking Tendencies among Teacher Candidates

Transcription

1 ER fi / Zekâ: Amerikan Deneyiminin Kritik Kuram Perspektifinden Analizi 107 Critical Thinking Tendencies among Teacher Candidates Salih Zeki GENÇ* Abstract The study aims to determine critical thinking tendencies among teacher candidates. 720 students from primary school teaching department (Primary School Teaching Programme, Science Teaching Programme and Pre-School Teaching Programme) form the sample of the study. When the gender and age distributions were investigated, 253 candidates are males and 467 are females. All the teacher candidates aged between years old. The reliability coefficient of the California Critical Thinking Tendency Scale is The scale consists of 6-point Likert-type 51 items and is adapted to Turkish by Kökdemir (2003). The scale consists of 6 scales: Analyticity, Curiosity, Open-Mindedness, Self-Reliance, Search for Truth, and Systematicty. The data collected through the scale were analyzed by using t-tests and analysis of variance and interpreted in tables. As a result, it was found that the critical thinking tendency of teacher candidates differs in sub-scales on open-mindedness and curiosity with regards to gender, on analyticity and search for truth with regards to learning styles, on analyticity with regards to grades, and on analyticity, curiosity, and search for truth according to majors. Key Words Critical thinking, teacher candidate, University, *Correspondence: Assist. Prof. Dr. Salih Zeki GENÇ, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Anafartalar Campus, Faculty of Education, 17100, Çanakkale- Turkey. szgenc@yahoo.com Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice 8 (1) January E itim Dan flmanl ve Araflt rmalar letiflim Hizmetleri Tic. Ltd. fiti.

2 108 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE The increase of fast distribution of knowledge requires people to have skills such as lifelong and individual learning. Furthermore, the specific ways by which knowledge is obtained and used are of vital importance. Individuals who are able to produce, use, and sell knowledge become more successful in life. In addition, individuals make use of their mental processes, reason and form judgments when they have to make decisions in order to solve the problems they encounter. Critical thinking is one of the ways that can be used in decision-making and problem solving processes. When the historical development process of critical thinking is examined it is seen that the explanations regarding critical thinking are based on two main disciplines: philosophy and psychology. The term critical thinking was defined differently by the specialists working in different fields. The common point of these definitions is being aware of thinking processes, examining the others thinking processes, and using the knowledge in real life (Hamurcu, Günay, Akamca, & Özy lmaz, 2005; Özden, 1997; Cücelo lu, 1998; Facione, 1998; Akino lu, 2002; fiahinel, 2002; Kökdemir, 2003). According to Salomon (1994), the thinking aptitude is just a group of preferences, attitudes, aims, ways, and abilities and the achievement of all these (Cited in Hamurcu, Günay, Akamca, & Özy lmaz, 2005) Critical thinking becomes a support to a person to orientate himself in the society and can be learnt through educational process. It is very important that the person criticize the stimulants given to him during learning to think. That way, the person can perceive and consider the stimulants more easily by criticizing. With other words, criticizing is a very important feature to construe the stimulants by deducing the points which are valuable or insignificant for him (Semerci, 2000: 3). Demirel (1999) points out that critical thinking depends on skills such as gaining, assessing, and using knowledge effectively. There are five main steps in critical thinking: consistency, combining, performing, sufficiency, and communicating. According to Boostrom (1992), thinking is not an activity which is asked only in schools of formal education (p. 1). Ennis (1985) defines critical thinking as a logical and reflecting thinking that focuses on making decision about what to do and what to believe in. According to him, some features of critical thin-

3 GENÇ / Critical Thinking Tendencies among Teacher Candidates king are focusing on the subject, analyzing the discussion, asking open and challenging questions, being able to answer such questions, questioning the reliability of the source, reasoning the datum and differencing, considering the estimate, and communicating with others. Ennis states that critical thinking is formed by capabilities and aptitudes. He sees critical thinking aptitudes as: Searching the clear statement of the thesis or problem Searching the reasons Trying to get well informed Using reliable resources and showing the resources used Considering the situation as a whole Trying to hang on to the main subject Keeping the main and basic problem in mind Searching for alternatives and options Being open-minded Taking others opinions into consideration Using the rejected premises without being affected in decision process Postponing the final decision when the convincing proof is not sufficient Being able to make a decision when the convincing proof and reasons are sufficient enough. Searching further for the accuracy Discussing the parts of a complex whole Being respectful and responsive of others emotions, knowledge, and culture (Cited in Sefero lu & Akb y k, 2006). The literature shows that there are some factors related to teachers in developing high critical thinking skills. Some of the most common factors are philosophical beliefs (Blane, 1969), professional preparation (McMillan, 1987), instructional delivery (McKeachie, 1994), and the nature of tests assignments (cited in Torres, 1999). One important point in relation to teachers critical thinking abilities is that students learn more from what teachers do than what they say (Blohm, Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo, 2002). Walsh and Paul (1998) state that in order to improve students cri-

4 110 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE tical thinking skills, teachers must be trained in this subject and take some compulsory internal education. According to Walsh and Paul, only with this way, can teachers be good models who think effectively for their students. Ann (2000) indicates that teachers must be good guides for their students in how to get the knowledge, how to absorb, criticize, and use it. Dalzell (1997, p. 5) also says a teacher who can think effectively is a very good model for his students and this creates an encouraging state. Baumfield (1997) also shares another opinion which supports Dalzell in that a teacher has to be a model to students about how to solve a problem and how to decide to reach a final decision. An effective model of a teacher is the one who believes in aptitude of thinking and adopts it without any expectation (cited in Torres, 1999). However, if the aptitude of a teacher is lacking, he is not willing to teach thinking to his students (Gibbs, 1997). Many national (i.e., Hamurcu and others 2005; Kökdemir 2003; Semerci 2000) and international (i.e, Reed, & Kromrey; 2001; Lee, Lee, Wootton, & Chang, 2000) studies on the topic have been conducted. The need for individuals who gain critical thinking skill with the aspects of selecting, organizing, and using knowledge or the need for teachers who are going to train them increases everyday. As a result, defining the aptitude of critical thinking of teacher candidates forms the problem of this research. Participants Method Number of students that should be included in the sample was determined before data collection procedure and random selection method was used (Arl & Nazik, 2001). Students who were enrolled in classes in science education, primary school education, and preschool education programs (day education and evening education) at Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University form the sample of the study. The California Critical Thinking Skills Test was administered to randomly selected freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors (840 students); however, 120 of the returned packets were not usable due to inaccurate responding. Therefore, analyses included responses from a total of 720 students (Table 1).

5 GENÇ / Critical Thinking Tendencies among Teacher Candidates Measures The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CT) was developed in It includes sub-scales of Analysis, Evaluation of inference, Deduction and Induction ratiocinate (Facione, Facione, Giancarlo, & Blohm, 1998). There are many ways to evaluate the CT such as performance assessment, portfolio assessment, scale assessment, proportional forms etc (Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo, 2000). However, research on educational and psychological tests shows that validity and reliability of multiple choice tests are much higher for evaluating thinking abilities and aptitudes (Haldyna, 1994). Therefore, the California Critical Thinking Skills Test was used in this study. Data in the present research were collected by using the California Critical Thinking Tendency Scale. California Critical Thinking Tendency Scale was developed by Facione and Facione in 1992 by considering the criteria mentioned in definition of critical thinking put forward by a delphi project. The scale is composed of 75 6-point, Likert type items and 7 sub-scales (Facione, Giacarlo, Facione, & Gianen, 1995). The original scale is in English but it was adapted to Turkish by Kokdemir (2003). He also studied the validity and reliability of the Turkish version by using factor analyses procedures. The revised Turkish scale included 51 items associated with 6 factors. In the reliability analysis step, the reliability coefficient of the whole scale has been found as (alpha).88. The 6 subscales of the Turkish version of the California Critical Thinking Tendency Scale were named as Analytical Approach, Curiosity, Open-mindedness, Personal Confidence, Look for the Truth, and Systematic Approach. Certain items which were listed in Cognitive Maturity sub-scale in the original scale were eliminated and some were listed under the open-mindedness sub-scale. Procedure The scale was administered to sample group in November 2006 and the data gathered were analyzed using Statistical Package fro Social Sciences (SPSS) software. In the data analysis procedure, t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey tests were used to find where the difference in groups laid (If there is a significant difference between groups, there are post-hoc test to find which

6 112 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE group caused to this difference). There are many available tests to be used as post-hoc (i.e., Bonferroni, Tukey, Least Significant Difference, Sidak, Scheffe, Duncan, Gabriel etc.) If, in each group, there are events with the equal number, Tukey test is used, but if the number of events are different then Bonferroni test is preferred (fiencan, 2005). In this study, Tukey test was used. The significance level was decided as.05 in all analyses. Results It is found that there is a significant difference at.05 significance level between the aptitude of critical thinking (open mindedness -curiousness) of teacher candidates and gender. On the other hand, at teacher candidates analytical, self-confidence, searching for truth and systematically approach, there was not a significant difference between the aptitude of critical thinking and gender. It is found that there is a significant difference between analytical and searching for truth/critical thinking aptitude of teacher candidates of both day and evening education at.05 significance level. It is also found that there is a significant difference, between analytical lower dimension and the classes that they take in education at.05 significance level. According to Tukey test, there was a difference between freshmen and senior teacher candidate students and this was in favour of 4th. It is found that there is a significant difference at 0.05 level between teacher candidates critical thinking aptitudes, analytical, curiousness, search of truth and their departments. According to Tukey, there was difference in analytical between the teacher candidates who are student at Science Education and Preschool Education departments and this was in favour of Pre-school Education; difference in curiousness was between again Science Education and Preschool Education departments and this was in favour of teacher candidates in Science Education department. And the difference in search of truth attitude was between Primary School plus Science Education and Pre-school education departments and this was in favour of teacher candidates in Pre-School Education department.

7 GENÇ / Critical Thinking Tendencies among Teacher Candidates Discussion It is found that there is a significant difference at.05 significance level between the aptitude of critical thinking (open mindedness -curiousness) of teacher candidates and gender. At sub-scales of both open- mindedness (Male X=39.81, Female X=40.90) and curiousness (Male X=38.40, Female X=39.31) it is seen that the average of female teacher candidates is higher than male candidates. According to this, the difference between male and female candidates was in favour of females. So, critical thinking aptitude at sub-scale of open- mindedness and curiousness is more positive in female teacher candidates than male. This finding overlaps with the study results of Hamurcu, Günay, Akamca, and Özy lmaz (2005) and Hayran (2000). Moreover, the findings of the study of Facione, Giancarlo, Facione and Gainen (1995) that investigated the differences in thinking aptitude between gender shows that female university students are more capable to be open-minded and reaching cognitive maturity than male students while male students are more capable to analytical thinking than girls and this supports the finding of this research. However, it does not overlap with the finding of Aybek (2006) in that the study did not show a significant difference between males and females. It is seen that there is a significant difference at analytical sub-scale in favour of the teacher candidates in day education, and a significant difference at search of truth sub-scale in favour of the teacher candidates in evening education. At this point, it is possible to say that teacher candidates think differently at analytical and search of truth sub-scales of critical thinking while they have almost the same or very similar opinions on other sub-divisions (e.g., open- mindedness, curiousness etc.) In the comparison that is done according to teacher candidates class levels, the only significant difference was at analytical sub-scale between freshmen and senior teacher candidates. We can say that this finding overlaps with finding of difference among classes in the study of Shin, Lee, Ha and Kim (2006). Moreover, Coflkun (2001) found significant differences in critical thinking levels according to classes. As you go to the upper classes, the higher scores and increases in critical thinking level is detected. It is possible to associate the difference in critical thinking aptitude which is in favour

8 114 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE of senior students with the process of university education. Education heavily emphasizes memorization and rote-learning at secondary education level, especially because of the exams (OKS, OSS). This trend diminished towards the last years of university education. So, as we can see from the results of this research, it is possible to claim that teacher candidates at higher classes think more analytically. In the comparisons done according to the departments of teacher candidates (i.e., science education, primary school education, and preschool education), some significant differences were found in sub-scales of analytical, curiousness, and search of truth. Similar results were found by Hamurcu, Günay, Akamca, and Özy lmaz (2005) in that there were significant differences among students in sub-scales of analytical, curiousness and search of truth. So, it is possible to say that the results of the two studies overlap and support each other. In addition, the results also overlap with the findings of Kürüm (2002), which basically indicate that critical thinking skills of teacher candidates can change by the department and program. However, in the study of Özdemir (2005) the findings do not cohere with each other. Because, in Ozdemir s study, it is stated that there is not a difference among students in their critical thinking levels including both verbal and quantitative fields. As a result, we can say that critical thinking aptitudes of teacher candidates might be in different fields and levels. So, the sample of the research is teacher candidates who are going to shape the future. Consequently, it is vital to create suitable environment that they can acquire and use critical thinking skills through the education process. At the same time, lecturers who are to train teacher candidates should have critical thinking skills and use them as being a good model. Because of this, applications and activities that improve and help critical thinking must be included in educational programs that are designed to train teaching staff of universities.

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