The reality of the practices of science teachers for the strategy of scientific inquiry to develop critical thinking in their teaching

Abstract

The current study aimed to find out "the reality of science teachers' practices of the scientific inquiry strategy to develop critical thinking in their teaching"; To achieve this goal, the researcher followed the descriptive survey approach due to its suitability for the studied phenomenon. The study sample consisted of (90) female teachers randomly selected and distributed as follows (69 biology teachers - 10 chemistry teachers - 11 physics teachers) and the sample was chosen randomly. Practicing the strategy of inquiry and critical thinking as a tool for collecting information. The study reached a set of results, the most important of which are:

1- The first field obtained an arithmetic mean of (2.281), and a standard deviation of (.438), with a moderate degree of practice., whileThe second field obtained an arithmetic mean of (2.243), and a standard deviation of (.413), with a great degree of practice.

2- A high correlation appeared between female teachers' practice of the scientific inquiry strategy and their practice of developing critical thinking, as the correlation coefficient between them was according to Pearson's correlation coefficient (.721**), which is significant at the significance level (.01), meaning that there is a correlation between them. In light of the results of the study, the study recommended a number of recommendations, the most important of which are:

1- More interest in practicing the scientific investigation strategy and employing it in a systematic and organized manner.

2- Semi-periodical courses for female teachers on how to practice the strategy of scientific inquiry and designing lessons accordingly.AndTraining female teachers on how to design activities based on scientific inquiry.

3- Work on urging female teachers to practice critical thinking while preparing lessons and providing and developing it for students.

4- Increase the time allocated to the science class so that the strategy of scientific inquiry can be used because it needs time to implement it.

5- Training female teachers to design activities based on problems that require arguments and evidence.