Abstract:
The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the influence of Common Knowledge
Construction Model (CKCM) on the sixth grade students’ critical thinking skills and to
reveal the relationship between students’ critical thinking skills and academic
achievements and the relationship between their critical thinking skills and
conceptual understanding levels. Semi-experimental method was employed in the
study. Study group includes 76 sixth grade students (38 experimental and 38 control
group students) studying in a middle school in the central district of Trabzon
province. The data were collected via Light and Sound Unit Critical Thinking Test
(LSCT), Light and Sound Unit Achievement Test (LSAT), and Light and Sound Unit
Conceptual Understanding Test (LSCUT). Non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test
and Mann Whitney U test were employed to analyze the data. In addition, Pearson’s
correlation coefficient was used to reveal the relationships between students’ critical
thinking test scores and their achievement test and conceptual understanding test
scores. Accordingly, it was seen that instruction based on CKCM is influential on the
sixth grade students’ critical thinking skills. On the other hand, high correlations were
detected between the students’ critical thinking scores and conceptual understanding
scores as well as between their critical thinking scores and achievement test scores.
