Effect of Critical Thinking Education on Problem Solving Skills and Self-Esteem in Iranian Female Students

Introduction: Critical thinking is a process of analysing, synthesising and evaluating the information in order to achieve an answer or conclusion. Aim: To evaluate the effect of critical thinking education on problem solving skills and self-esteem. Materials and Methods: A quasi-experimental study was carried out among Iranian female high school students, from November to December 2016. Cassidy and Long's Problem Solving Questionnaire and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale were used for data collection. A multistage random sampling was used. First, two high schools of girls were randomly selected and all study participants were asked to complete the problem solving questionnaire. Then, 60 students who had lower scores in problem solving skills (10-14) were identified and randomly assigned to the experimental and control group. The experimental group received eight 60 minutes sessions of critical thinking education. Before and after the intervention, students completed Problem Solving questionnaires and Rosenberg self-esteem scale. Data analysis was performed by the Multivariate Analysis Of Variance (MANOVA). Results: There was a significant correlation between problem solving skills and self-esteem (r=0.389, p=0.002). There was a significant difference between groups in problem solving skills (p=0.0001) and self-esteem (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Educating about critical thinking to the students had a positive effect on problem solving skills and self-esteem. Therefore, it can be said that critical thinking education is one of the important tools to create, cultivate and increase problem solving skills and self-esteem.