Effects of Implementing Critical Thinking on Developing Students' Abilities for Independent Learning in Primary Schools

Abstract

Preparing students for independent learning and creating lifelong learning habits are the main objectives of the contemporary school. In this research, we present the opinions of the students and their teachers about how the primary school prepares them for independent learning and for higher levels of education. Initially, the topic of this paper is treated in the theoretical aspect, where scientific arguments are given for the importance of independent work of students in their intellectual formation and psycho-social development. The implementation of critical thinking as an alternative for reforming our schools is based on progressive theory, which organizes the lesson with the student at the center. From this viewpoint, we want to present our findings on the effects of implementing contemporary learning strategies of critical thinking in preparing students for independent learning. The opinions of students and teachers, which we compare and analyze in this paper, were obtained from two school environments. From schools that have reformed their pedagogical practice through contemporary teaching methodology and from school environments that still work mainly according to traditional and conservative methodology.