Theme: Developing Scientific Attitude

Among Students
Sub/Theme: Critical Thinking

Topic: Developing The Critical Thinking

Using Inquiry Based Techniques in
Students

ABSTRACT
This thesis investigates strategies for enhancing critical thinking abilities among
students in educational setting. By analyzing current pedagogical methods,
cognitive psychological theories, and practical classroom applications, the
research aims to identify effective interventions. The study explores the
integration of active learning, collaborative activities and technology to cultivate
student’s analytical and evaluative skills. The findings contribute to the
educational practices that empower students with the essential skill of critical
thinking for lifelong learning and problem solving. This study investigates
strategies to improve student’s critical thinking, exploring the impact of
presentations, competitions and discussion on student’s performance and
attitude. This thesis investigates pedagogical approaches aimed at fostering
critical thinking skills among students aged 8 to 14. Thi thesis focuses on the
synergistic relationship between reading proficiency and development of critical
thinking. The outcomes contribute to refining educational practices, fostering a
more nuanced understating of how reading skills can serve as a catalyst for
cultivating higher-order cognitive skills in students.
Introduction
Background of school: I am B.Ed. student at Sufism University and my teacher has assign
me an action research project in my area. Basically I am from Matiari city but I am teaching at Public
school Hyderabad. In my research participants are between the age of 8 to 14 years.

The school has main 3 sections

Boys section

Girls section

Junior section

School has an enrollment of over 2500 students from nursery to collage level.

School has more than 60 classes, 6 play grounds for different games and activities.

Introduction to area: The school is Located in Latifabad.

Public school Hyderabad is the largest school in Sindh, and spread over around 100 acres.
The junior section is very big and has very large space to do physical exercise, sports and many more
activities for students.

Background of students:
Socio economic status:

The participants belonged to class 3 to 5.

They had different socio economic status

50% of students were middle class, 25% upper and the other 25% were lower class.

Occupation/profession: Majority 50% of parents had good professions like doctor, lawyer,
banker, teachers or government servants
While other 50% were shopkeepers, gardener, security guard, farmers or any other little business set up.

The school provides 20% discount in fees while the children of staff members are getting free education.

Literacy rate: the upper class parents had a good literacy rate, it was observed by their children
appearance when they come school well prepared, usually completed their homework and any other
task given to them. These parents also encourage their children to participate in school programs,
activities and exhibition.

Their speaking, reading skills are also very good.

10% were having low literacy rate because of having no any educational background.

Parents concern for their children:

Usually parents are very cooperative and concern about student’s progress only a few parents
wanted their child to be promoted to next class, and don’t value the learning results.

Data collection tools:

I collected parents’ data from office to see their backgrounds, I also talked with them face to
face and on calls.

Topic: Developing the critical thinking using inquiry based techniques in students.
I have selected PUBLIC SCHOOL HYDERBAD for my research topic because I am an ECE teacher
there in junior section.
I spent my 1st day in class to observe students properly, some students were not cooperative
with their class mates and mostly making jokes on each other. That’s why I felt there is a need
to educate teachers about this problem. So I decided to select this topic.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
  What is the involvement of a teacher in improving the student’s critical
thinking?
 How to increase critical thinking through presentations, competitions and
discussion among students between ages of 8 to 14?

Critical thinking: Critical Thinking involves analyzing and evaluating information

objectively, considering multiple perspectives, and making reasoned judgments.
Fostering critical thinking among students is essential for their intellectual development.
Educators can encourage it by designing activities that promote analysis, problem-solving, and
reflection. Encouraging open discussions, asking thought-provoking questions, and emphasizing
the importance of evidence-based reasoning contribute to cultivating critical thinking skills in
students.

Asking them how, when, why, what? Students become able to explain and will think critically.
When you observe that your any student is thinking critically, reward them, appreciate them in
front of class mates, it will develop his or her confidence and also other students will be
encouraged to do such things.

Problems:
1. The students had little connection with teachers and class mates so firstly I had to bring a
good environment in which they easily can communicate and share their ideas with each other.
2. When I started asking different questions in class, some of the students started making fun
and even disturbed other students, it took me 4 to 5 days to build discipline in the class, I gave
them some activities to bring their focus with each other. (group activities)
3. The some students were not cooperative with me so I decided to talk with their parents, and
gave them some assignment, some of them responded very positive and prepared their child to
give a good result to teacher, but 3 parents didn’t take any interest and ignored.
4. For developing critical thinking and relationship among students, I made 5 groups of students
(5 students in each group) to prepare them for reading books from their school library. The
students had some reading problems and their vocabulary was not good enough.

Discussion with colleague:

I addressed the reading problem of students with my workmate who gave me some
suggestions. The most important teachers must educate students in order for them to develop
the necessary abilities. Her idea is to involve students in enjoyable learning activities.
Most of the teachers don’t bring it up in class. They choose to set up their classroom as usual
for reading.
(One way teaching) teachers frequently read from textbooks. Then teachers ask the students
questions regarding textbook, some students can’t answer their queries. During this process
students don’t understand properly so my colleague ask daily life questions from students
relate with their textbooks concepts to their normal life experience.
In general I found the meeting with my colleague useful.

Discussion with senior teachers:

The most important issue affecting students is lack of interest and peer interaction. I carried my
Q.1 and 2 to my senior teachers and vice principal of junior section. They guided me so well also
shared their experiences with me.
I have summarized all the advices given by different teachers.
1. Build a relationship with parents. Communicate with them, give them reading tasks at home
for their children. Let them involved in studies of their children.
2. Guide and ask the parents to be friendly with children, listen them and give them plenty of
time at home. When a child feels comfortable for sharing his or her feeling, they will light
headed in the way so become serious about their studies, will be able to participate in reading
activities of class and will be polite and friendly with their classmates.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
According to Sara et al. (2016) every profession relies on academic critical thinking as a barometer of
ethical conduct.

According to Akinlaye Mansaray and Ajiboye (1996), in any society, human life is a series of
confrontations, confrontation with oneself, with other people, with societal institutions and with one’s
environment. These leave man with limitless problems to battle with in the society. The person who can
successfully deal with these problems and issues and that can face squarely with self-confidence is one
imbued with right type of knowledge, skills and competencies required to solve these problems. One of
the tools which education (participating higher education) can perfectly provide for the youngsters is
critical thinking which provides them with the needed skills to solve problems and issues in the
environment regardless of their nature.

Developing critical thinking is a crucial aspect of education. Various studies emphasize its importance in
enhancing problem-solving skills, decision-making, and overall cognitive abilities. Paul and Elder (2006)
have proposed models to foster critical thinking, emphasizing the need for explicit instruction and
practice.

Educational interventions, such as inquiry-based learning and case-based teaching, have been explored
by scholars like Ennis (2011) to cultivate critical thinking skills. Additionally studies by Bailin et al. (1999)
suggest that incorporating diverse perspectives and encouraging reflective thinking contribute to the
development of a more robust critical thinking mindset.

Critical thinking in the classroom is a common term used by educators. Critical thinking has been called
“The art of thinking about thinking” Ruggerio, V.R. 2012

Student perceptions of their interactions with peers at a cyber-charter high school. High school students
are increasingly enrolling in online courses (Digital learning Collaborative, 2019, Gemin and Pape, 2017)

While the majority of online students only take online courses to supplement their in-person course
work, enrollments at full-time online programs, commonly called cyber schools, are quickly growing
making it especially important to examine the learning strategies used in these schools. Gemin and
Pape, 2017)

It is essential to examine the role of technology in critical thinking development, virtual platforms and
interactive tools, as explored by Hsu and Hsieh (2019), provide opportunities for collaborative problem-
solving and can be effective in promoting critical thinking skills.

Studies by McPeck (1981) and Bailin (2002) delve into the cognitive processes that underline critical
thinking and highlight the connection between reading comprehension and the ability to construct
reasoned arguments. They argue that engaging with complex texts challenges students to think
critically, fostering the skills necessary for evaluating evidence and forming well-reasoned opinions.

Facione (1990) and Brookfield (2012) propose pedalogical approaches that integrate reading across
disciplines, emphasizing the need of educators to design assignments that encourage students to
question assumptions and engage in reflective reading.

Participants of my Research:
The participants of my research were students between the ages of 8 to 14, mostly from grade
3 to 5. There were 28 students in the class, and nearly 80% students gave me positive feedback
by showing interest in the activities. The project is entirely based on sub-theme of
“responsibility” in the context of strengthening their scientific attitude among children.
I observed that hand writing of those students was good and clean. They mostly completed
their class work on time. The students faced difficulties in reading.
I discovered that students were experiencing serve problems in their classroom, which lead to
unethical behavior in future, therefore it was critical to work on their socio economic
development and to promote healthy relationship among students to make a positive
contribution to society.

How I solved the problems:

I planned event of reading and writing English and Urdu novels. Students were distributed in
groups.
To enhance their critical thinking students read different poems than tell and share their ideas
that what they learned from the stanzas of Urdu poems, sometimes I need to explain as that
was difficult for them.
By grouping students were working together and helped each other, hence improving their
PEER RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION.
Generally, individuals should be allowed to express themselves to have a good interactions and
relations with peers. Before solving any type of problem its necessary to express and
acknowledge one’s feeling.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS:

In this study, data was collected with help of student’s portfolio and a checklist made by the
teacher. After giving intervention, results of these interventions were given.
Critical thinking and peer relationship was measured by the checklist to note observations at
regular intervals.
Data Analysis: it was analyzed with the help of descriptive and inferential statistics.

INSTRUMENTS USED TO COLLECT DATA:

There are different types of research tools, but in this study researcher has used student’s
portfolio and checklist for measuring the change in behavior for critical thinking.
Student’s portfolio:
Portfolios are collection of student work that represent a selection of their abilities and
achievements.
In the research project:

 It included one in-progress folder that demonstrated the development of a product such
as an essay, as it progressed through the stages of ideas, drafting and revision.
 It also included writing training to demonstrate the variety of assignments, aims and
audiences for whom a student has created written material, among other things.
 These activities encouraged cooperative team work by a opportunity to share and
remark on each other’s work.
 These records were maintained properly and were viewed properly, for measuring
change in student’s behavior.

CONCLUSION:
After analyzing data with help of student’s portfolio and observation checklist, it was analyzed
with help of both descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques.
Major findings of the study has been given:
1. Parents make a major part of building CRITICAL THINKING in a child. Because when a
child reads books and poems, the child gets opportunity to explore. Parents can give
enough time and chance to the child to talk and express and ask questions, where a
child can share ideas and build confidence itself.
2. In schools, teacher can make environment-friendly class and engage students in learning
activities, so the students will focus on the studies and other extra-curricular activities.
This will create good PEER COMMUNICATION skills and understanding among students.
3. In schools, different kind of reading, writing and acting competitions should be
encouraged and planned so that students can be confident and active.
4. Most importantly, students should be encouraged to RESPECT everyone in their
surroundings.
5. As a teacher, I observed that 60% of students had ability to read different poems and
novels without hesitation and while others had not good reading skills.
6. Students in the class, had normal PEER REALTIONSHIP, most of the students of class, had
very unfair and unfriendly relationship with their class fellows. I observed that at small
and petty issues, they became very rude to each other especially boys tend to fight with
each other.
APPENDIX 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW
 1. Training programs show a very large sized effect on the participant’s critical
thinking. (Tariq Melhem, Zainudin Mohd Isa)
2. The learning process is essentially a teaching- learning process that emphasis the
importance of learning through experience processes to gain experience.
This approach has a very important role in determining the success or failure of the
desired study. (Siti Maizul, Rr Nanik Setyowatti Maya Mustika).

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT:

 Main objective was to develop student’s critical thinking ability.

 Students build a good peer-relationship and get actively involved in the classroom.
 Student’s critical thinking can be improved through a good learning process.
 The effort to obtain these results was to improve the quality of learning through the use
of good teaching materials.
 Provision of tasks were given that stimulated students to think critically, provided with
method and learning models in learning.
 Arrangement of various quiz and competitions were planned to enhance the confidence
and group work of students.
 Presentations on various topics, out of syllabus was taken, so that students could learn
out of the box and could be encouraged.
SELF REFLECTION:
Working in the field of children’s critical thinking development was an incredible experience for
me, I gained a great deal of understating regarding this field of study.
I discovered that the key of successful learning is to establish positive relationship between
teachers and students.
Positive attitude: Teachers should serve as sources of inspiration for pupils, as well as setting
goals and providing direction to them.
Professional development: as a teacher, this research project helped me a lot to learn new
methodologies as well as with the most recent information on student’s behavior and attitudes.
As a teacher, this research project added me a lot of professional skills. I learnt different ways
to handle children and learnt new different methods.
1. Identifying the problem: as a teacher, I identified a problem, lack of critical thinking
skills among students. My first day at school, I noticed that students were not interested
toward learning anything new, not even attentive to listen their teachers, they were
only habitual of listening lectures and completing copy work. They never thought of,
what they are studying? Why and how anything is happening?
2. Reviewing literature: After reviewing literature I came to know the work had done
previously. It added a lot of knowledge, I learned how to solve a problem through a
research method.
3. To praise: I came to know that how a teacher can appreciate the students in front of
class mates. The simple words of admiration make the students happy and more
hardworking.
4. Use of technology: with the help of research project, I have gained more understating
of technology and its uses, especially preparing classroom activities.
5. Increase knowledge: as a result of this study project, I have gained more understanding
in the subject of research. Prior to this endeavor. I had no prior knowledge of research
or the methods used in it. Now, I can conduct research more simply, understand the
mentalities of different age groups.
As a teacher, it helped me to develop a wide range of professional abilities.
Purpose of the study: major aim of the study was to develop critical thinking among
students of between ages of 8 to 14 years. For this I as a researcher conducted this study
with the help and continues support of my supervisor Mam Samina.