CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.2. Summary of the Study
A self-administered 40-item questionnaire was designed and administered to 240 students from two private high schools in Abu Dhabi. A total of eight teachers of eight classes participated in the study to answer the interview questions, and to be observed by the researcher for the lesson observations checklist, used in the current study to collect the qualitative data.
As the current research aims to understand and interpret the impact of collaborative learning in developing students critical thinking i through teachers’ and students’ perspectives, the study followed a mixed methods design which used both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Three different data collection methods were employed for the data collection: structured quantitative questionnaire, structured, open-ended interviews, and lesson observation checklist.
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The aim was to collect information from different sources that complement and support each other.
The quantitative and qualitative data analysis stressed on the importance of collaborative learning in enhancing students’ critical thinking. With a thorough research of the study, it was found that collaborative learning has reported significantly high scores in promoting critical thinking among high school students. This suggests the importance of collaborative learning in class in enhancing students’ critical thinking skills.
Several studies showed the importance of collaborative learning in enhancing critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is a notion that should be used in many other conditions than learning that involve information processing, problem solving, decision making and learning, as it permits to make a distance from some beliefs and prejudices and to recognize logical conclusions of what is done (Bjelanovic Dijanic, 2011). Collaborative learning, on the other hand, should have a group goal and individual responsibility to be useful (Slavin, R, 2014). This study tries to investigate the impact of collaborative learning in enhancing critical thinking skills among high school students in Abu Dhabi. The outcomes direct to plausible answers to the main research question which is framed by the purpose of the study and the five sub questions connected to it.
As mentioned in the above studies, being a critical thinker is hard but the outcomes are worth the effort. There is a difference between success and failure while being a critical thinker. Thus, it is not about finding cracks in other’s argument. Critical thinkers are capable of making better strategic and more useful decisions based on proves and not by presumptions are made. In fact, being a critical thinker can distinguish a person from others as he/she seeks out both sides of every argument which would surely widen out a research to include other’s perspectives.
This capability helps a person slow down before fully being committed with a question. It supports a person to create novel approaches, to anticipate what might occur in the future, to infer better decisions. As a skill, critical thinking can be learned and if a person is already a critical thinker, then he/she can always become better.
It is also obvious that previous studies focused on varied techniques in critical thinking skills as critical thinking is more than just a notion. It is a real-life example upon which can be constructed successfully and effectively in problem solving skills that are highly vital in the
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workplace. The application of reasoning enable better decision-making by improving how a person elucidate point of views and problem solving practices.
Critical Thinking is a principle that is often misjudged as criticism where it actually concentrates on the ability to pursue reasonable steps and come at a proper inference. Through Critical Thinking, the awareness of different methods to a problem is one of the essential learning evolvements beside the ability to test those methods critically instead of depending on norms, and defining other valuable ways to inevitably raise a person’s success.
Furthermore, critical thinking teaches a person how to prioritize his/her time and goals by analyzing what is vital to the procedure. It also enables a person to see beyond, not criticize, cultural standards and learn how to comprehend other factors that can impact on decision- making and create effective teamwork and leadership.
Moreover, critical thinking can make a person more useful communicator by transforming discussed ideas consistently and relevantly to support points easier. In addition, a person will become more reasoned and balanced problem solver, as he/she will learn the two types of reasoning – inductive and deductive – which is more appropriate in making effective and logical decisions instead of emotions or instinct.
The outcomes of these theories are supportive for this study to illustrate how varied methods of critical thinking skills in English language classroom affect learner’s performance and learning improvement, and to what level learners are involved in these methods. All in all, it is predicted that this research would examine the implied methods applied on the existing critical thinking skills.
In summary, to offer a better understanding of the impact of collaborative learning on the development of critical thinking among high school students in Abu Dhabi in specific and the UAE in general, more research should be done at the early stages of the students’ lives examining their childhood experiences and early experiences of collaborative learning involvement. This would help to explore the impact on students’ critical thinking development through collaborative learning. Also, more studies focusing on exploring a student’s critical thinking through collaborative learning in public schools should be conducted.
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Teachers play a vital role in facilitating all the tasks to students. Students prefer working in teams rather than working individually but some low achievers struggle to communicate with their peers from high achievers. Collaborative learning is viewed by teachers to be effective to all students, as it helps to enhance students’ thinking ability because of the exchange of ideas and opinions even though it is accompanied with some challenges such as hard and inappropriate tasks for some low achievers. On the other hand, higher achievers would work faster if worked on their own and this shows the importance of differentiation within the collaborative learning activity. Finally, it is recommended to support teachers’ need to improve the applicability of collaborative learning to effectively develop critical thinking, and offer more resources and real advisors to teachers to help them in doing collaborative work with students.