2022 Volume 63 Issue 2 Pages 255-266
The purpose of this study was to develop a “hypothesis setting and experiment design critical thinking sheet” (CT Sheet) to foster critical thinking in hypothesis setting and experiment planning in lower secondary school science, and to verify the effects of educational practice using the CT Sheet. The developed CT Sheet has columns for the four stages of the critical thinking process: “clarification”, “examination of the basis for reasoning”, “reasoning”, and “decision making”. In addition, while utilizing the new teaching material we made it possible for learners to receive advice from others, so that multifaceted thinking would be encouraged. From our analyses of the questionnaire, CT Sheet descriptions, speech, and CT Sheet evaluations, it became clear that the learners’ critical thinking was activated by the learners’ interactions with others, and that utilizing the new material and method was indeed effective in improving their ability to reflectively review their plans and to examine the validity of their experimental plans.
