Critical Thinking Dispositions as a Predictor for High School Students’ Environmental Attitudes

Abstract

This non-experimental quantitative study aimed to determine if high school students' critical thinking (CT) dispositions and environmental attitudes differ by gender, father, and mother's educational background and their CT dispositions are significant predictors of environmental attitudes. UF/EMI Critical Thinking Disposition Instrument and Environmental Attitude Scale were used to collect data in this study carried out with 139 high school students. It was found out that students' CT dispositions did not differ by gender, father, and mother's educational background. Also, while students' environmental attitudes differed by gender in favor of females, they did not differ by mother and father's educational background. Besides, engagement, maturity, and innovativeness were significant predictors of the students' environmental attitudes. A positive relationship was found between students' CT dispositions and environmental attitude scores and engagement, maturity, and innovativeness together explained 31% of the total variance on their environmental attitudes.

Examination of the Relationship between Educational Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Classroom Engagement and Academic Achievement

“…Results showed that the participants' critical thinking disposition in cognitive maturity, engagement and innovativeness were at high level in the five-point scale. These results were consistent with the previous studies (Bakır, 2022;Çağlı, 2022;Duncan et al, 2016;Erişti & Erdem, 2018;Orhan, 2022;Ulu & Baş, 2020). Considering that most of the pre-service teachers had a high cognitive maturity, it can be said that they can easily solve the problems they experience with stakeholders such as students, colleagues, school administrators and parents in different ways because they are aware of themselves and their environment.…”

Examining Pre-Service Teachers’ Critical Thinking Competences within the Framework of Education for Sustainable Development: A Qualitative Analysis

“…CT is considered one of the key competences of achieving sustainability [23] because it enables students to understand the state of the environment [24], analyze and solve environmental problems [25], and understand how new political, social, and economic structures and processes can lead us to sustainability [26]. More importantly, CT can empower students to question norms, practices, and opinions, reflecting on their values, perceptions, and actions as well as taking a position in the sustainability discourse [1], which will eventually allow them to participate in a democratic society [27].…”

Environmental Sensitivity and Knowledge: Before and After Viewing the Documentary “The Last Drop” Among High School Students

“…To begin, an environmental background scale was put in place to depict the awareness that high school students have about environmental issues. The scale was modeled from previous questionnaires that had been evaluated for both validity and reliability (Naim, 2019;Orhan, 2022). In addition, this scale was created to assess the environmental behaviors of speci cally high school students, which justi ed the choice.…”