To develop students' critical thinking skills by solving quantitative and qualitative problems in the physics classroom

This small-scale qualitative study examines how to develop students' critical thinking skills through solving quantitative and qualitative problems in physics lessons. As Bailin and Siegel (2003) state "Critical thinking is seen as the primary goal of teaching and is the most widely used model of teaching", that is why many educators agree that the development of critical thinking is one of the main goals of teaching. Usually, in physics lessons, students mainly solve qualitative problems, however, an important skill such as critical thinking is left out. Therefore, I would like to consider effective ways, in order to develop students’ critical thinking skills. The study examines the following research questions: (1) How important are students' critical thinking skills in problem-solving? (2) What types of tasks are can be used in the classroom to develop critical thinking? During this research, I will analyse students' summative assessment tasks and monitor the progress of students' achievements during the lesson.

Methodology My research is qualitative. The research work is a study of the actions taken in the context of the own professional development of the teacher. The research consists of 4 sections: (1) Review of documents and literature; (2) Analysis of students' 1st and 3rd term summative assessments; (3) Monitoring the behavior of students during the lessons and its analysis; (4) Drawing conclusions and findings. The research group consisted of 9th-grade students (17 students aged 13-14). The study consists of 2 phases: the first phase covers October 2019 and December 2019, the second phase covers January 2020 and March 2020.

Findings The results of the first term summative assessment show that the average performance of students in quantitative and qualitative tasks is 64.5%, the maximum is 91.18%, and the minimum is 49.02%. That means, there is no consistency in the performance of students, the gap is 42.16 percent. According to the results of the summative assessment in the 3rd term, the highest percentage of achievement was 82.7, and the lowest 68.2. The gap was significantly reduced by 14.5 per cent, it is 2.72 times less than the 1st term. In order to reduce the gap in students’ knowledge, or systematise the thinking of students, I recommend the following findings: • I used an easy-to-complex approach to develop students' critical thinking skills in qualitative tasks; • Students were asked to discuss the problem with them before completing quantitative and qualitative tasks. Discussing a problem allows students to simplify their causes and solutions. • Ask students to read very carefully and several times. Because full attention to the question during the performance of text tasks can reduce the time spent on the task by 55%. • If tasks are complex and require critical thinking, I will divide a task into several steps and students quickly find a solution using a step-by-step method. • Before performing the tasks, a sample algorithm for performing the task was proposed.

[1] Abed, S., Davoudi, A. M. H., & Hoseinzadeh, D. (2015). The effect of synectics pattern on increasing the level of problem solving and critical thinking skills in students of alborz province. WALIA Journal, 31(1), 110-118. [2] Ali R., Hukamdad, Akhter and Khan (2010). Effect of using problem solving method in teaching mathematic on the achievement of mathematics students. Asian Social Sciences 6 (2) 67-72. [3] Bailin S. and Siegel H., (2003) Critical thinking, in The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Education, edited by N. Blake, P. Smeyers, R. Smith, and P. Standish (Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 2003), pp. 181–193. [4] Ikunobe P., (2001). Teaching and assessing critical thinking abilities as outcomes in an informal logic course. Teaching In Higher Education, 6(1), 19-32. [5] Ku, K. Y. L. (2009). Assessing students’ critical thinking performance: Urging for measurements using multi-response format. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 4(1), 70-76. [6] Fatoke A., Ogunlade T., and Ibidiran V. (2013 ). The effect of problem-solving instructional strategy and numerical ability on students’ learning outcomes. International Journal of Engineering and Science 2 10 97-102. [7] Festus S., and Ekpete O. (2012). Improving students’ performance and attitude towards chemistry through problem-based-solving techniques (PBST) International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development 1 1 167-174.