Developing critical thinking skills towards biology course using two active learning strategies

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the impact of teaching critical thinking skills on the attitude towards biology courses among female students of tenth grade in Jordan using two active learning strategies. To achieve this, the Critical Thinking Scale and the Attitude towards Biology Scale was used, and its validity and consistency were verified. The sample of the study wad (90) female students from the tenth grade in Southern Mazar Directorate in the academic year (2019-2020). The sample of this study was randomly assigned to three groups: the first was experimental group which consisted of (31) students who studied the genetics unit using the directed investigation strategy. The second was the experimental group which consisted of (29) students who studied the genetics unit using the discussion strategy, but the control group consisted of (30) students who studied the genetics unit in the usual way. Data were collected and analyzed after implementing the experiment, which lasted for two months. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in performance on the Critical Thinking Scale and the Attitude towards Biology Scale in favor of the two experimental groups. The study recommended adopting active learning strategies in teaching science courses in general and biology courses, in addition to conducting more studies on active learning strategies with other variables and classrooms.

Keywords: active learning, investigation, discussion, critical thinking, attitude towards biology