THE CRITICAL THINKING DISPOSITIONS SCALE FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: A STUDY OF SCALE DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Critical thinking is seen as both an output of curricula, and as a skill enhancing students’ learning quality and achievements in all the countries. Defined as a significant skill contributing to students’ academic and professional achievements in 21st century, critical thinking has been emphasized due to increasing needs in workplaces, and accountability in higher education. For this reason, the purpose of the study is to develop a critical thinking dispositions scale for elementary school students. 310 elementary school students for EFA and 301 students for CFA participated in the current study. The steps to be followed in a study of scale development were carried out. In a preparation phase, survey in literature for items, content validation, and pilot study were performed in order to make the draft scale be ready in implementation. In the data analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and reliability analysis were performed as quantitative analysis. All the results point out that critical thinking scale is valid and reliable for 3rd and 4th elementary school students. However, it is recommended that a validation and reliability study should conducted for secondary school students.