The Assessment of Critical Thinking Skills in Secondary School Students in Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

This study aimed to address four objectives pertaining to the development of critical thinking among secondary school students in Saudi Arabia, the factors and challenges affecting the development of critical thinking and the teachers’ perspectives of teaching this skillset. Addressing these objectives required using quantitative research methods with the students and qualitative methods with the teachers. The study findings revealed that secondary school students are capable of critical thinking to an extent, but significant improvements are needed. The students have developed good critical thinking skills in defining their goals and expressing their critical thinking in their written work and they can evaluate both sides of an argument. However, they have not developed critical thinking skills that help them analyse what they read. The majority of students reported that they do not focus and do not think in a systematic way. About a third of them reported that they do not consider themselves as good thinkers, which indicated a crisis in self-confidence. The study results demonstrated significant relationship between critical thinking skills and sex, where female students are more likely to develop such skills than their male counterparts. Likewise, students with a higher GPA (90-100) develop stronger critical thinking skills than students with 70-80 and 80-90 GPAs. The study arrived at many challenges that hinder students’ development of critical thinking skills, such as poor engagement from teachers. In addition, students suffer from poor self- confidence which inhibits their effective application of critical thinking. The results thus suggested that students cannot express their views because they fear bullying from students and teachers.