Does Saudi Society and the School Community Affect the Improvement of Critical Thinking Skills in Saudi Arabian Elementary Schools?
Abstract:
The intent of this explanatory sequential mixed-method study is to examine Islamic teachers’ thoughts on improving critical thinking skills in elementary schools in the Southwestern province of Saudi Arabia. This study involves the collection of quantitative data and an explanation of the quantitative results with qualitative data. In the first phase, a survey was administered to Islamic teachers in Saudi elementary schools to assess their opinions on improving students’ critical thinking skills and to identify the factors that influence or hinder their implementation of critical thinking instruction. In the second phase, qualitative data was collected using semistructured interviews with a number of Islamic teachers in order to explore more fully their perceptions toward improving students’ critical thinking skills in Saudi elementary schools. The study’s findings suggest there is a need to also examine female Islamic teachers’ perceptions toward critical thinking in the Southwestern region of Saudi Arabia in order to identify the similarities and differences between the perceptions of male and female teachers.
Author(s):
Mesfer Alwadai, King Khalid University, Abha-62529, Saudi Arabia
DOI:
Keywords:
References:
Adelman, M. (1994). Teachers’ perceptions of employer valued work skills. (Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University). retrieved from ProQuest Dissertation and Theses.
Alazzi, K. F. (2008). Teachers’ perceptions of critical thinking: A Study of Jordanian secondary school social studies teachers. Social Studies, 99(6), 243-248. http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/TSSS.99.6.243-248
Alwehaibi, H. (2012). Novel Program to Promote Critical Thinking among Higher Education Students: Empirical Study from Saudi Arabia. Asian Social Science, 8(11), 193-204. doi:10.5539/ass.v8n11p193 http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v8n11p193
Aliakbari, M., & Sadeghdaghighi, A. (2013). Teachers’ perception of the barriers to critical thinking. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 70, 1-5.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.01.031
Allamnakhrah, A. (2013). learning critical thinking in Saudi Arabia: Student perceptions of secondary pre-service teacher education programs. Journal of Education and learning, 2(1), 197-210 http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jel.v2n1p197
Ary, D., Jacobs, l., & Sorensen, C. (2006). Introduction to research in education. Donald Belmont, CA: Thomson/wadsworth.
Bataineh, O., & Alazzi, K. F. (2009). Perceptions of Jordanian Secondary Schools Teachers towards Critical Thinking. International Education, 38(2), 56-72.
Bensley, D., Crowe, D. S., Bernhardt, P., Buckner, C., & Allman, A. l. (2010). Teaching and assessing critical thinking skills for argument analysis in psychology. Teaching of Psychology, 37(2), 91-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00986281003626656
Beyer, B. (1984, March). Improving thinking skills defining the problem. Phi Delta Kappan 1., 7. retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/i20387077
Brookfield, S.(1987). Developing critical thinkers. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.Burke, l.; Williams, J.; Skinner, D. (2007). Teachers’ perceptions of thinking skills in the primary curriculum. research in Education, 77,1-13.http://dx.doi.org/10.7227/rIE.77.1
Creswell, J. (2009). research design qualitative, quantitative, and mix methods approaches (3rd ed.).California, USA: SAGE Publication, Inc.
Fisher R. (in press) ‘Thinking Skills’, in Arthur J, Grainger T & Wray D (eds) learning to teach in primary school, Routledge falmer
Fisher, R. (2007). Dialogic teaching: developing thinking and metacognition through philosophical discussion. Early Child Development and Care, 177(6-7), 615-631. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004430701378985
Furtado, l. (2010). Kindergarten teacher’s perception of an Inquiry-Based Science teaching and learning professional development intervention. New Horizons in Education, 58 (2), 104-120.
Howie, D. R. (2011). Teaching students thinking skills and strategies [electronic resource]: a framework for cognitive education in inclusive settings / Dorothy Howie. London: Jessica Kingsley, 2011.
Halpern, D. (1996). Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erbaum associates.
Innabi, H., & El Sheikh, O. (2007). The change in mathematics teachers’ perceptions of critical thinking after 15 years of educational reform in Jordan. Educational Studies in Klein, G. (2011). Critical thoughts about critical thinking. Theoretical Issues In Ergonomics
Mathematics, 64(1), 45-68. doi:10.1007/s10649-005-9017-xhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10649-005-9017-x
Science, 12(3), 210-224. doi: 10.1080/1464536X.2011.564485 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1464536X.2011.564485
Kowalczyk, N. Hackworth, r & Case-smith, J. (2012). Perception of the use of critical thinking methods.radiologic technology, 83 (3), 226-237.
Kelly, A.V. (2009) The curriculum theory and practice (6th edition.).Wiltshiree, England: Chippenham, Great Britain by CPI Antony rowe.
Lauer, T.(2005). Teaching Critical thinking skills using course content material. Journal of College Science Teaching, 34(6),34-44.
Maiorana, V. (1992). Critical thinking across the curriculum: Building the analytical classroom Bloomington, IN: Eric clearinghouse.
Marlow, l. & Inman, D. (1992). Higher order thinking skills: Teachers’ perceptions. Education, 112(4), 538.
Merriam, S.(2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. John wiley& Sons, Inc, CA: San francisco.
McGuinness, C. (2005). Teaching thinking: theory and practice. British journal of education- al psychology, Monograph series II (3),107-126.
Moore, K, D. (2009) Effective instructional strategies from theory to practice. los Angeles, United State of America: SAGE publications.
Ozkan-Akan, S. (2003). Teachers’ perceptions of constraints on improving students thinking in high schools (Master’s thesis, Middle east technical University, Turkey). retrieved from http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/683631/index.pdf
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2008). Critical thinking: The art of Socratic questioning. Journal of Developmental Education, 31(1), 36-37.
robinson, T. Y. (2005). A study of the effectiveness of environmental education curricula in promoting middle school students’ critical thinking skills / by Theresa Y. robinson. 2005.
Sa-U, S; & Abdurrahman, N. (2008). factors influencing teachers’ perceptions on teaching thinking: A case study in Kuala lumpur, Malaysia. The Journal of Behavioral Science, 3 2., 146-155.
Smith, G. F. (2002). Thinking skills: the question of generality. Journal of curriculum studies, 34,659-678. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220270110119905
Smith, J., & Stitts, D. (2013). Using Action learning And Critical Thinking Tools To Make Changes In Higher Education. Contemporary Issues In Education research, 6(1),73-84.
Stedman, N. P., & Adams, B. l. (2012). Identifying faculty’s knowledge of critical thinking concepts and perceptions of critical thinking instruction in higher education. NACTA Journal, 56(2), 9-14.
Zeteroglu, E; Dogan, Y., & Derman, M. (2012). Determining the opinions of preschool and primary school teacher candidates on creativity and metaphorical perception. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 12,3135-3152
