Abstract:

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of the creativity levels of the students who study at the School of Physical Education and Sport on their critical thinking dispositions. In accordance with this purpose, the sample is composed of 341 students randomly selected from the Erciyes University School of Physical Education and Sport. In the study, The California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory which was adapted into Turkish by Kökdemir (2003), the creativity level scale adapted by Çoban (1999) and the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher were used as data collection tools. Statistical analyzes of the data obtained from the Personal Information Form were made with the SPSS 20.0 package program. Personal information about the candidates, total inventory scores and factor scores were given by determining their frequency (f) and percentage (%) values. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation analysis (r) was applied in order to reveal the relationship between the scores obtained from the scales and the multiple regression analysis (β) was applied in order to determine whether the obtained scores were predictive of each other. While a positively significant relationship was revealed between creativity and the critical thinking sub-dimensions curiousness, analyticalness, open-mindedness, truth-seeking, and self-confidence; a significant relationship could not be determined between creativity and the systematicity sub-dimension. Also, it has been determined that the critical thinking and creativity level scale scores were at medium level. When the results obtained from our study are examined, it is seen that the level of creativity affected critical thinking methods as well as many other areas. For this reason, it is thought that it is important for the teacher training institutions to also include senior thinking skills in preparing their programs.

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