Abstract:

Critical thinking is a disciplined process that allows the person to control his own thinking process, to put forward reasonable thoughts, to perform high-level activities such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation, and to develop the person in the affective and cognitive dimension. Critical thinking, which is mentioned as a skill that a person should have in the national education curriculum, has also an undeniable position in religious education. The aim of this study is to determine what the Kalam textbook, which is taught as a vocational course in Anatolian imam hatip high schools, contains for critical thinking. For this purpose, the unit “Different Interpretations in the Understanding of Religion” was examined by using the document analysis method, one of the qualitative research methods, and the data were obtained from the activities and questions in the unit. 35 critical thinking strategies created by Paul, Jensen, Binken, and Kreklau were used in the analysis of the data. The data were analyzed by descriptive analysis technique. As a result of the research, it was seen that the unit outcomes, the texts in the unit and the assessment and evaluation questions were insufficient in terms of critical thinking strategies. In the unit, it was seen that the activities and questions were capable of realizing 13 of the critical thinking strategies. The educational process can be made helpful for critical thinking by creating a classroom environment where the answers will be shared and discussed, and questions that will lead to higher-order thinking. In order to develop critical thinking, activities that encourage methods such as discussion, Socratic questioning, and brainstorming can be included in the textbooks.

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