Critical thinking levels of senior students at education faculties and their views on obstacles to critical thinking

The main purpose of this study is to determine the critical thinking levels of senior students at Primary School Teacher and Turkish Language Teacher Education Departments and to explore their views on the obstacles to critical thinking. The research uses both the quantitative and the qualitative approach. First, for data-gathering purposes, the sample group, consisting of 139 senior students from the Bülent Ecevit University, Educational Faculty, Turkish Language Teacher Education Department and Primary School Teacher Education Department, was administered the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTD-I), which was adapted to Turkish by K kdemir in 2003. Afterwards, focus-group interviews were made with fourteen students (two groups with seven students each), during which students discussed the obstacles to critical thinking. The research findings concluded that the critical thinking levels of the students are low in general. Furthermore, it was seen that the highest critical thinking disposition was at the sub-dimension of open-mindedness, while the lowest critical thinking level was at the sub-dimension of systematicity. According to the results of the research, the critical thinking levels of students differed significantly as per gender, although no significant differences were found with regard to their grade point averages or the type of their secondary school of graduation. Looking at the opinions expressed on the obstacles to critical thinking, it is seen that the traditional approach to education and the ongoing practice of rote learning are regarded as the main reasons for these obstacles by students.