The ınfluence of the common knowledge construction model on middle school sixth grade students’ critical thinking skills: a case of light and sound unit

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.