Role of the Cognitive Research Trust Thinking Program in Developing Critical Thinking Skills*

This study focuses on the role of Cognitive Research Trust (CoRT) thinking program in developing critical thinking skills and aims to contribute to the curriculums for all school levels in Turkey for teaching critical thinking skills adopting a qualitative case study design. For this purpose, 35 grade 5 students from a primary school and their teacher participated in the study. The data were collected through student reflections and teacher views following each thinking education course for ten weeks. Ten lessons included in the fifth section of the CoRT program, “knowledge and feelings”, which was considered to be related to critical thinking skills were taught for ten weeks as one lesson, four activities, and one project per week. Findings revealed that the CoRT program achieves important outcomes in critical thinking regarding opinions, which may be directed by feelings, values, and others’ ideas. Findings also indicated that information may not always be accurate; therefore, it should be investigated, clarified, and simplified It can also be acquired through clues and questioning. In addition, findings suggested that for making the CoRT program more effective, classes should include visuals and real-life examples.

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