Determination of Critical Thinking Dispositions and Communication Skills of Gifted Middle School Students

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to determine the critical thinking dispositions and communication skills of gifted students, and to investigate whether these students’ critical thinking dispositions and communication skills vary significantly by some demographic variables. This study used the descriptive survey model. The sample, which was determined by using maximum variation sampling, consists of 326 gifted students attending BİLSEMs. To collect data, the “California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory”, the “Communication Skills Evaluation Scale” with “Information Form” were used. In the analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and correlation analysis techniques were employed. It was seen that the critical thinking level of the students is medium and communication skills level is high. Their critical thinking does not vary significantly by the variables of gender, birth order, grade level and family type. However, their level of critical thinking was determined to vary significantly by the variables of the number of siblings and mother’s/father’s education level. Their communication skills vary significantly by the variables of gender, grade level, mother’s/father’s education level and the number of siblings but does not vary significantly by the variables of birth order and family type.