A Study on the Opinions of Class Teachers Regarding Their Proficiencies in Using Thinking Skills

Abstract

Thinking is a highly complex process. Thinking skills include important skills such as problem solving, decision making, critical thinking and creative thinking. The necessity for individuals to be equipped with these skills in order to cope with problems in life and to arrange their lives according to their needs has become the subject of studies in the field of education in recent years. Educational systems seek to find ways to equip individuals with these skills. However, in the Turkish Education System, students are mostly engaged in a teaching activity to transfer the information taught without thinking on it, from primary school to university. Observations suggest that students make learning in this way become a habit and avoid situations that require them to think on their own. In this sense, the problem continues to grow and establish roots until university. In university, it is important that teacher candidates demonstrate the expected performance in their thinking activities, because a teacher who has the responsibility to develop thinking skills must have already developed his / her own thinking skills. ​The main question here is: How do teacher candidates assess their proficiency levels in thinking skills?​ Do teacher candidates' thinking skill proficiencies differ according to different variables?​ The purpose of this research, which is planned to find the answers to these questions, is to examine the opinions of class teachers regarding their proficiencies in thinking skills according to different variables. In this study, screening model was used and "Personal Information Form" along with "Questionnaire for Class Teacher Candidates' Opinions Regarding Their Proficiencies In Using Thinking Skills" were used as data collection tools.  The sample of the study was composed of 280 teacher candidates, chosen with convenience sampling in a Basic Education Department of a state university in Istanbul. Results obtained from the data analyzed by performing the necessary statistical procedures were as follows: Thinking skill proficiencies of teacher candidates were slightly above the average. While these proficiencies do not differ according to gender and parental education status, they do differ according to the variables of age, class and book reading frequency.

Keywords: Thinking, thinking skills, class teacher candidate