The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Skills and Democratic Attitudes of 4th Class Primary School Students

Abstract

This research aims to explore the relationship between critical thinking skills and democratic attitudes of 4th class primary school students. The research used a relational screening model, which is one of the screening models. The sample consisted of 221 4th class students who were selected by the simple random sampling method. The study has employed the ‘Critical Thinking Scale’ and the ‘Democratic Attitude Scale’. Descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), Pearson product-moment correlation analysis and simple linear regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results have revealed that 4th class primary school students have a high level of critical thinking skills and democratic attitudes. No significant difference has been determined between students’ critical thinking skills in terms of gender, while a significant difference has been identified for democratic attitudes in favour of female students. The results also have suggested a medium-level relationship between students' critical thinking skills and their democratic attitudes, and that critical thinking skills significantly predict democratic attitudes.