Procedures and results of a diagnosis of critical thinking in students of Colombian Secondary Education

Abstract

Contemporary society faces a contradiction between the rapid production and dissemination of knowledge, as a consequence of advances in science and technology, and the need for students in secondary education to select, verify, assimilate and apply it to the solution of problems, school and everyday problems. This requires that in the teaching-learning process, skills associated with critical thinking are developed, such as interpreting and arguing, based on their diagnosis. The objective of this article is to analyze the procedures and results of a diagnosis of the initial state of the development of critical thinking in 19 eleventh grade students of the Educational Institution “El Triunfo” in Colombia as a starting point for the design of a strategy that contributes its improvement. The diagnosis is based on the operationalization of the variable development of critical thinking in the teaching-learning process of Chemistry, previously characterized. Empirical methods were used for data collection (pedagogical test, semantic differential technique, observation guide for students and a survey for teachers) and statistical-methematical methods for processing. The results showed the effectiveness of the procedures used in the diagnosis, by revealing the insufficient development of skills related to critical thinking in the students. In teachers, limited application of participatory methods in the teaching-learning process and attention to individual differences, in addition to the absence of activity systems for students.