Abstract:

This study examines critical thinking skills of undergraduate students by gender, age, the type of high school graduated from, place of residence (village, town and province) and department of study at university. Participants of this study consisted of students in the departments of Theology, Education, Turkish Language and Literature, Economy and Administrative Sciences of Çukurova University and Adana Police Vocational College in 2005-2006 academic year. Data were collected by an open ended question which is multidimensional, current on a controversial issue and required to apply critical thinking skills of the students. The students were also administered a questionnaire that involved questions about personal information. The HCTSR (Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric) developed by Faciona and Faciona was used to determine students' critical thinking skills. Data were analyzed by using independent samples t-test, one- way ANOVA, and when variances were not homogenous, Kruskal Wallis H test, Mann Whitney U test for independent samples. The qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis method. Findings demonstrated that the most of the students were in the second level of six level rubric scale using their critical thinking. There were significant differences on the critical thinking skills of the students by gender, age, graduated high school, and department of study at university. However, no significant differences were found by place of residence. Summary In a participatory democratic society, the need for citizens who are capable of thinking critically, making informed decisions and approaching critically to social issues has been increasing. Schools are the places where knowledge, attitudes, values and skills are taught to be an effective citizen. However, schools often fail to develop important life skills such as critical thinking. As an important life skill critical thinking is not only necessary in the learning process, it is also necessary in daily political, economic, philosophical and social life (Faiona, 2007; Halpern, 1999; Paul, 1995). Critical thinking skills should be translated in to real life situations. As on higher education institutions universities should teach critical thinking skills to be transferred in to life. As Bers, (2005), Halpern, (1999) and Long ve Simpson, (1999) stated, critical thinking is an important outcome of the university education. This study aims at determining whether university students use critical thinking skills and dispositions while reasoning about complex, multidimensional, current controversial issues. This study was designed to answer following questions: In the context of Turkey's memberships process to European Union; 1. What are the information sources of the university students about membership process to European Union? 2. What are the critical thinking levels of the students in the context of membership process to European Union? 3. Are there significant differences on the critical thinking levels of the students in terms of gender, age, the type of high school graduated from, and departments they study? 4. Which aspects of the critical thinking skills did students show in their written assays? Method Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. Participants consisted of 196 4th grade students in total. They were selected from the Faculty of Education, Art and Sciences, Theology, Economy and Management Sciences and Adana Police Community College in 2005-2006 academic year. Students were informed of the research's aims and asked to answer some questions voluntary. Participants were asked to write an essay on the given issue to reflect their critical thinking which was prepared by the researchers and a questionnaire which involved questions about personal information. Holistic Critical Scoring Rubric (HCTSR) which was developed by Facione and Faciona was used to assess students' critical thinking levels. Qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques such as t-test and ANOVA, one way. Results and Discussion Results showed that there was a significant difference by gender in students' level of critical thinking. The difference was in favor of male students, suggesting that male students use their critical thinking skills more than female while expressing their ideas about a current controversial issue. There was also a significant difference by age in the level of students' critical thinking. Results of Scheffe test showed that when compared to the students who are 27 and over, students at the age of 18 and 20 use their critical thinking skills more as far as the discussions concerned. The results also indicated that there was a significant difference in students' critical thinking levels in terms of the type of high schools students were graduated from. Students from Religious (İmam Hatip) high schools were found to have higher critical thinking levels about Turkey's membership to EU than students' from general high school. Both, students from Religious and Vocational high school were found to have higher critical thinking skill level than students from private high schools. The difference of mean score between students from Religious high school and those from private high schools was larger than the differences among any other pair-wise comparisons. Critical thinking levels of students showed significant differences by the academic department of students. When the group's mean ranks were examined, students from the faculty of theology got the highest scores in HCTSR and followed by students from Adana Police Community College, Economy and Management Sciences Faculty of Education, Art and Sciences. Results indicated that university students' critical thinking skill levels were relatively low; most students were at the second level of the HCTSR scale, only one student at the 5th level and no student at the 6th level. The study aimed at determining whether university students think critically while reasoning about a current controversial issue. Results suggested that the first level students, as indicated by the HCTSR score, seemed to think only positively or negatively, but negative ideas and a conservative type of thinking were found in their thinking. Students at this level were found to write poorly. Students at the second level, although they were aware of different ideas about the issue, made only prejudiced comments. Students at the third level made both positive and negative comments and proofs about their arguments about the issue. But most of the students at this level didn't make multiple comments and made logical inferences. Students at the fourth level had similar worries like others while they were expressing their ideas about the progress of EU membership of Turkey. But students at this level demonstrated an emphatic and multiple point of view and they posed more information about the issue. Generally, it can be said that their critical thinking levels are low. In conclusion, there were significant differences in critical thinking skills by gender, age, department and the schools they graduated from. However, there was no significant difference by the location they live. But, when the content analysis results are interpreted, it seemed that critical thinking skills of the students from all faculties were not varied to a great extend.

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