Using the Critical Thinking Methods for Developing Self- Assessment in Elementary School

Abstract

The purpose of critical thinking is to enable a complex view of the world. Choices are part of the natural course of life. In order to ensure the best choices, it is necessary to procure the best information. The act of thinking is not difficult, people naturally use thinking without having to exert a great amount of effort or engage in deep intellectual work. Ease of thinking can manifest in very young children with little mental skills. The development of critical thinking is achieved through the instructive-educational process. Self-evaluation is an essential ability of the student in the training and development specific to the early school age, being fundamental for effective learning, professional training, and continuous learning from people's lives. Evaluation is an integral part of the educational process, thus forming the essential relationship between teaching-learning-evaluation. The teaching staff can form and develop the student’s critical thinking and self-evaluation capacity through the instructive-educational process. Using the right methods and techniques, critical thinking will be developed during the educational process, thus participating in the development of students’ self-evaluation. For this purpose, as a research methodology, we conducted a focus group with the teaching staff of the classes involved in the research, totaling four persons. We analyzed the methods and techniques used in the educational activities, their impact on the students' thinking, and how these methods are beneficial in developing critical thinking and self-evaluation.