Opportunities for forming critical thinking in primary school

The article reflects the content of an experimental study aimed at studying the possibility of developing in primary school, in particular, among children studying in the third grade, evidence-based critical thinking associated with the implementation of a conclusion that follows consistently from the proposed judgments. The work involved 111 third-grade students, divided into two groups: the control group consisted of 62 people, the experimental group - 49 people. Thirty-two additional classes were organized with the subjects of the experimental group (one hour per week after school hours) throughout the entire academic year (from September to May). These classes were conducted using the material of four types of search problems contained in the author’s “Intelligence” program for the third grade. A diagnostic lesson was held with the subjects of both groups in September (before the start of additional classes) and in May (after completion of additional classes), in which children solved plot-logical problems of the author’s “Reasoning” methodology to determine the level of development of critical thinking. As a result of the study, it was shown that the subjects of the experimental group demonstrated a significantly higher level of mastery of critical thinking than the subjects of the control group. The data obtained indicate that the mastery by the subjects of the experimental group of the content of the curriculum for the third grade of primary school in conjunction with the mastery of the content of the non-curricular program “Intelligence” in additional classes contributes to the formation of higher levels of critical thinking than the mastery by the subjects of the control group of the content of only the curriculum. In the future, it is planned to explore the possibilities of the non-curricular program “Intelligence” in creating conditions for the formation of critical thinking in children studying in the second and fourth grades of primary school.