Critical Thinking Skills and their Relationship with Academic Achievement and Gender of 10th Grade Students in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the most prevalent critical thinking skills among 10th grade students enrolled in the public schools in the kingdom of Bahrain. It involved investigating the relationship between critical thinking skills and level of academic achievement and gender. The sample of this study consisted of (337) quasi-randomly selected Bahraini high school students, (149) males and (188) females. All students took Cornell Critical Thinking Test (level X), and students’ final grades in 9th grade were considered. To answer the questions of the study the following statistical calculations were used: the mean, standard deviations test, Anova and Manova. The results showed differences among the sample of the study in the total score of critical thinking skills and the following critical thinking skills (induction, credibility, deduction, assumptions. The total score and induction were higher than the expected average. The level of the skills was between (0.42-0.56). There were also statistically significant differences between males and females in the skills of induction and deduction and the total score, in favour of the males. There were also significant statistical differences in induction, deduction, and the total score in favour of high achievers.