The Effectiveness of Scientific Thinking Teaching on Problem Solving Skill in Preschool Children: Designing and Implementing a New Problem Solving Tool

The main purpose of the present study was designing and applying a problem-solving tool in examining the effectiveness of teaching the scientific thinking in preschool children .The present study was a quasi-experimental research. The population of the study was comprised of children in preschool centers in the academic year of 2017-18 in Tehran. 8 preschool children (4 girls and 4 boys) were selected through purposive sampling method. Data were analyzed by repeated measures of variance analysis. The results showed that the tool designed for problem solving skill had an appropriate content validity (between 0.8 and 1), and the reliability of the tool was obtained by using the test-retest method (0.724). Also, the results of repeated measures of the variance analysis showed the scientific thinking training program had a significant effect on enhancing the problem solving skills of preschool children (p<0.05). Teaching scientific thinking provides the opportunity for preschool children to try using logic to discover the relationships between events and to engage in creative and scientific thinking.