Developing critical thinking skills in the thinking-discussion-writing cycle: the argumentation-based inquiry approach

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of the argumentation-based inquiry (ABI) approach on the critical thinking skills of fifth-grade students in a secondary school using a hybrid method. Using an experimental research model, the study had a semi-experimental design form with pre-test and post-test control groups. It was conducted in a middle school in Kastamonu with fifth-grade students from two classes during the fall semester of the 2016–2017 academic year. One of the groups was randomly assigned as the control group and the other as the experimental group. The science classes for the experimental group included activities fitting the ABI approach. In the control group, the lessons were carried out with frequently used teaching techniques such as lectures, question-and-answer and demonstrative experiments. The activities were implemented during the units “Measuring the Size of a Force” and “Matter and Change”. A Critical Thinking Test was used to measure the critical thinking skills of the groups at the beginning and the end of the study. T-test and ANCOVA analyses were applied to the quantitative data using the SPSS software. At the end of the study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 students; six students from each group. The interviews were analysed using the Nvivo 11 software to obtain themes and codes. The evaluation of the quantitative and qualitative findings revealed that the ABI approach used in science lessons had improved the critical thinking skills of the experimental group students.