An Analysis of Causal Relationship and Development of Critical Thinking Process among Grade 10 Students in the Eastern Region of Thailand

Abstract

This research aims: 1) to analyze casual factors that influence to the critical thinking of Grade 10 students in the Eastern of Thailand.  2) to develop a critical thinking process of Grade 10 students in the Eastern of Thailand. I conducted this research by using multi-stage random sampling for collecting data from 600 students. The instruments were a questionnaire; a test for student critical thinking; a test of intelligence quotient; a test of casual factors that affect to critical thinking; and a semi-structured interview. Quantitative data analysis uses basic statistics; Structural validity analysis of causal factor models and the content analysis method is used to analyze the qualitative data. The results are that: has 4 casual variables: teacher’s teaching behavior; democratic child–rearing; internal locus of control and intelligence quotient. These casual variables are also the casual factors that directly affect to the critical thinking. The factors that indirect affect to the critical thinking are teacher behavior that is transmitted the internal locus of control. The democratic child rearing that indirect affects to the internal locus of control and intelligence quotient. The result of the structural integrity analyzing of casual factors model found that it is fitted with empirical data. The result of developing a critical thinking process of Grade 10 students in the Eastern of Thailand, from the casual factors model that affect to the critical thinking that can develop in each factor of the critical thinking process: teacher behavior development.