AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
1990, Portík,
2001, Šuťáková, 2017). Kosturková (2016) assesses
the state of critical thinking of Slovak teachers as unsatisfactory.
Compared to the sample of British teachers, our teachers obtained a
relatively low mean gross
score (41,15 points out of 80 possible
points) in the W-GCTA test (Watson-Glaser test of critical
thinking). Our research was based on the fact that the level of
critical thinking of teachers subsequently determines the application
of teaching .
3 Method and Methodology
Our formulation of the research problem is focused on the aims of
the research project No. APVV-15-0368, Practice in the centre of
specialized didactics, specialized didactics in the Centre of practical
preparation. Its aim was to identify the key adaptive strategies
applying the cognitively oriented approach to the development of
pupils` critical and creative thinking by teachers.
Research subject
The correlation level between the application of strategies for
development of critical and creative thinking by teachers and the
subjects these teachers teach.
Research problem
A statistical significance of the correlation between the application
of strategies for development of critical and creative thinking by
teachers and the group of subjects they teach.
In the assessment we pay our attention to the frequency of applying
specific identified strategies of critical and creative thinking by
teachers in terms of factor division of strategies and also according
to particular items belonging to the given strategies (Duchovičová,
Tomšik, 2017, 2018). The frequency of their application is based on
the self-reflective analysis by teachers of particular groups of
subjects (natural sciences, informatics and mathematics, social
sciences and mother tongue, artistic education and educational
subjects, foreign languages).
Research sample
Our research sample was formed by N = 125 randomly selected
teachers (teachers fulfilling the requirement for the position of
training teachers) working at primary schools (n = 67) and
secondary schools (n = 58) in Slovakia. The average age of
respondents was M = 45,58 years with the standard deviation SD =
9,71 years (min = 25; max = 65), and the average length of teaching
practice was 20,61 years. Out of the total number of participants in
the research there were N = 16 male respondents and N = 107
female respondents (n = 2 non-categorized). The division according
to the teaching subjects is the following one: teachers of natural
sciences, informatics and mathematics (n = 38); teachers of social
sciences and mother language (n = 32); teachers of artistic education
and educational subjects (n = 16) and teachers of foreign
languages (n = 39).
Research methods
In the collection of research data we used the questionnaire
“Strategies of critical and creative thinking in teaching”
(Duchovičová, et al. 2017). The questionnaire is designed for
teachers and training teachers. By means of this questionnaire it is
possible to identify the key didactic strategies for development of
critical and creative thinking of pupils that are used by teachers. The
research tool consists of two two-dimensional parts one one-
dimensional part. For the purposes of our research, we selected the
first part focused on the frequency of using particular strategies in
teaching for development of critical and creative thinking of students.
This part has 41 items and they are divided into six following
subscales (the reliability of particular subscales for specific
dimensions is expressed with the Cronbach`s coefficient
α):
Strategies for development of self-regulation (9 items;
α=0,824; α=0,844),
Strategies for development of systematic and interpretative
skills (10 items
; α=0,785; α=0,800),
Argumentation strategies (6 items
; α=0,803; α=0,760),
Strategies for drawing conclusions and problems solutions (8
items
; α=0,673; α=0,608),
Strategies for development of assessment (5 items
; α=0,522;
α=0,586),
Strategies for development of reading skills (4 items
; α=0,737;
α=0,643).
The reliability of the complete tool expressed with the Cronbach`s
coefficient is
α=0,935.
The inner consistency and validity of the questionnaire was verified
with the factor analysis
(Duchovičová, Tomšik, 2017). Taking into
account the unequal number of items in the particular subscales of
the questionnaire, the score of respondents` answers can achieve
different levels. Higher score represents a higher level of the factor
analysed in the subscale. All items are formulated as declarative
sentences that require answers according to the five-degree scale of
Likert type (1-5).
The research data were processed by means of the programme
Microsoft Excel and statistical programmes IBM SPSS (ver. 22) and
STATA (ver. 9). For the description of the research data, we used
methods of descriptive statistics, namely: the number, mean, the
mean of items (the summary score was divided with the given
number of items in the factor), the standard deviation. In order to
find out the differences in the studied variables between the research
groups, we used the Kruskal-Wallis test/Mann-Whitney U test. We
compared the data from the particular groups of teachers divided
according to their teaching subject by means of the variation
analysis ANOVA (Tomšik, 2016; 2017).
Design
The collection of data was carried out within the period of April,
May and June 2017. The administration of the tool took
approximately 30 minutes. The tool was in the print form and it was
completed by teachers. During the months of July and August 2017
we analysed the obtained data and published information about the
factor analysis of the tool. Partial data from the research of
strategies of critical and creative thinking applied by teachers are
published continually.
4 Results and discussion
The aim of the research was to find out what relationship is between
the application of strategies of critical and creative thinking by
teachers according to the subjects they teach. The results of the
analysis of applying a specific strategy according to the type of
subject are mentioned in the table 1.
As it is evident from our findings, teachers include and apply
particular strategies developing critical and creative thinking of
pupils in particular subjects in a comparable way. We identified a
statistically significant difference only in the strategy Creating
space for presenting different views, attitudes and cultural
differences among learners. This strategy was more frequently
applied by teachers of social and educational subjects. Another
statistically significant difference was found out in the strategy
Using of discussion as a space for exploration of learners own
feelings, remarks and opinions that was much more often used by
teachers of foreign languages and natural sciences. In the final
overall assessment we did not find any significant differences in the
application of particular strategies in teaching by teachers of
specific groups of subjects.
We mention the results of the frequency in application of particular
strategies according to the factors consisting of the given items in
the graph 1. The division of frequencies of application of strategies
according to the factors of critical thinking is stated in the table 2.
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