An investigation of the critical thinking dispositions of pre-service teachers at a private non-profit university

Abstract

The main aim of this study was to investigate the critical thinking dispositions of preservice teachers. This study further researched critical thinking dispositions by examining factors such as the teachers’ age, their year in the graduate program, subject areas, their academic achievement (CGPA), the type of high school from which they graduated and finally the education level of their parents. The sample for this study consisted of 23 first-year and 21 second-year pre-service teachers who were pursuing a Master’s Degree in Curriculum & Instruction from the Graduate School of Education at a private non-profit university in Ankara, Turkey. The preservice teachers were preparing to teach in the fields of biology, mathematics, Turkish and English language and literature. As data collection tool, the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory-Turkish (CCTDI-T) was used. A one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), independent samples t-test and Pearson correlation were used to analyze the data. According to findings of this research, it was found that the level of critical thinking dispositions of pre-service teachers is middle. This study found a significant difference in critical thinking dispositions among the preservice teachers when compared for subject areas and their mother education level. Besides that, no significant difference found for the other factors listed above. Furthermore, it was found that there was no correlation between academic achievement (CGPA) and critical thinking dispositions of pre-service teachers. In conclusion, some suggestions are given for further research in this study.