AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Table 2. Descriptive statistics of research data - application of strategies by teachers of particular group of subjects according to the factors
of creative thinking
N
M
SD
SE
Sig.
ANOVA
F1: Strategies for Development of Self-
regulation
natural sciences
34
35,3529
6,92769
1,18809
,753
social sciences
31
36,1613
4,89964
,88000
languages
37
36,7027
5,50689
,90533
artistic education
16
35,3750
4,85627
1,21407
Total
118
35,9915
5,69074
,52388
F2: Strategies for Development of
Systematic a Interpretative Skills
natural sciences
34
38,0882
6,25405
1,07256
,693
social sciences
29
39,6207
4,85808
,90212
languages
37
39,4324
5,83829
,95981
artistic education
16
38,5000
6,71317
1,67829
Total
116
38,9569
5,82706
,54103
F3: Argumentation Strategies
natural sciences
37
23,2703
4,81692
,79190
,586
social sciences
31
23,9355
4,39648
,78963
languages
39
24,3077
3,97462
,63645
artistic education
16
22,6875
5,12144
1,28036
Total
123
23,6911
4,47970
,40392
F4: Strategies for Drawing Conclusions
and Problems Solutions
natural sciences
35
36,1143
5,73827
,96994
,377
social sciences
31
38,2258
5,18787
,93177
languages
39
36,8718
4,89994
,78462
artistic education
15
35,8667
6,41278
1,65577
Total
120
36,8750
5,42878
,49558
F5:Strategies for Development of
Assessment
natural sciences
37
21,0541
3,61283
,59395
,294
social sciences
31
22,3871
3,19038
,57301
languages
37
22,0811
3,00350
,49377
artistic education
15
20,9333
4,36654
1,12744
Total
120
21,7000
3,44366
,31436
F6: Strategies for Development of
Reading Skills
natural sciences
37
17,0541
2,94341
,48389
,117
social sciences
32
18,1563
2,55405
,45150
languages
39
17,9744
2,96015
,47400
artistic education
16
16,4375
2,63233
,65808
Total
124
17,5484
2,84949
,25589
*Note.: N– number; M– mean; SE– standard error of mean; SD – standard deviation; Sig. ANOVA – statistical significance
Analyses of identifying applied strategies for the development of
critical thinking show that teachers of secondary degree of
education most frequently apply strategies for drawing conclusions
and problems solutions, as well as strategies for development of
reading skills and assessment of learners. (Fenyvesiová, et al.,
2018). The works by
Brečka, Valentová et al., 2017; Čeretková et
al., 2017, Horváthová, Reid, et al., 2017 analyse the application of
strategies of critical and creative thinking by teachers of particular
teaching subjects more in detail. The authors present detailed results
of applying strategies from the point of view of several criteria of
data division. We were interested to find out if there are any
differences in the application of the given strategies from the point
of view of groups of subjects taught by teachers of secondary
education. We divided the subjects into the following groups:
natural sciences (we included there also teachers of mathematics
and informatics), social sciences, languages and subjects of artistic
education/educational subjects. When analysing the obtained data,
we found out that the application of strategies of critical and
creative thinking by teachers is not determined by the character of
the teaching subject, and therefore the contents of the teaching
subject do not influence the application of argumentation strategies,
strategies for development for development of systematic and
interpretative skills of learners, strategies for development of self-
regulation, assessment, drawing conclusions and problems solving,
and strategies for development of reading skills. We did not find
any statistically significant relationship between the application of
strategies by teachers and the type of subject they teach in the
secondary degree of education in any of the studied factors of
developing critical and creative thinking.
Unsatisfactory results of pupils in particular areas of critical and
creative thinking represent a long-term problem in the educational
system of the Slovak Republic. Zelina (2011) sees the reason of this
situation in the didactic level, i.e. in the methods and strategies
applied by teachers and also in the relationship between teachers
and their pupils. Within the project APVV-15-0368 we identify the
basic and referential orientation in the level of applying strategies of
critical and creative thinking by teachers
(Duchovičová et al. 2018).
We found out that teachers of secondary degree of education most
frequently apply strategies for drawing conclusions and problems
solving, as well as strategies for development of reading skills and
assessment of learners. We also found out that there do not exist any
statistically significant differences in the application of strategies for
development of critical and creative thinking by teachers from the
point of view of teaching subjects they teach in the secondary
degree of education. Teachers of particular groups of subjects apply
strategies for development of self-regulation, strategies for
development of systematic and interpretative skills, argumentation
strategies, strategies for drawing conclusions and problems solving
and strategies or development of reading skills with the same
frequency. Their application is not determined by the contents and
character of the teaching subject. The analysis of the dependance of
particular strategies proved the fact that teachers of natural sciences
(we included also teachers of mathematics and informatics into this
group), social sciences, languages and subjects of artistic
education/educational subjects use the given strategies with the
same frequency of application. We identified a statistically
significant difference only in the strategy Creating space for
presenting different views, attitudes and cultural differences among
learners and Using the discussion as a space for exploration of
learners own feelings, remarks and opinions.
A new problem for statistical processing of data related to the
application of strategies of critical thinking by teachers is their
classification according to the degree of education, their inclusion
into the process of continual education, or according to their
expertness expressed with the length of their pedagogical practice.
We consider these results to be relevant for further education of
teachers as well as for the orientation of education in the pre-
graduate preparation. It is important to focus on these areas more
intensively also at the methodical level.
Based on this research,
Fenyvesiová, Duchovičová, Tomšík,
Grofčíková, 2018 assess the frequency of applying strategies for
development of cognitive processes by teachers of secondary
education as satisfactory. However, the effectiveness of their
application is unsatisfactory and therefore this problematic area still
requires to be in the centre of intensive research work.
- 54 -