The development of critical thinking skills in science in primary school students El desarrollo de habilidades de pensamiento crítico en ciencias en estudiantes de primaria

abstract

© 2018, Beijing Science Education Innovation center. All rights reserved.The objective of this investigation was to study the effect that the implementation of the inquiry strategy for the classroom, has in a Science course on the development of critical thinking skills in fifth grade children, and the change in the perspectives and practices of the teachers regarding this development. The study was performed in a school in Ecuador with forty-four fifth grade students under a post-positivist paradigm with mixed methods, applied to an experimental group and a control group. An inquiry strategy was implemented in the classroom to promote the development of critical thinking skills in children, which includes a guide to answer critical thinking questions. The perspectives and practices of the teachers regarding the explicit teaching of these skills were also analyzed. By the end of the intervention, a significant improvement in the type and quality of answers given by the students in the experimental group to critical thinking questions was evidenced compared to the control group. The answers were more complete and better elaborated. The results influenced positively in the teachers¿ perspectives and practices, denoting that they would include in the future the teaching of concepts through the development of critical thinking skills in their planners, apart from being convinced that the explicit teaching of these skills influences favorably on the learning of concepts in Science and in the resolution of problems. The strategy described in this article can be considered by primary Science teachers who are willing to promote scientific reasoning in their students.