Designing and Validating Critical Thinking Curriculum for the undergraduate course, Based on Stories and Parables of the Holy Quran

The purpose of this study was to design and validate Critical Thinking Curriculum for the undergraduate course based on the stories and analogies of the Quran. The research was carried out in a mixed (qualitative - quantitative) method in two stages of design and validation. In the design phase, first, the general goals of Lipman’s educational philosophy for the children, Facine’s critical thinking, and the goals of higher education in Iran were deduced. ). In this regard, among the forty stories and fifty parables of the Holy Quran, four stories and seven parables according to the criteria and basic principles of selecting and presenting the content based on the opinion of a scientific group composed of experts Educational Sciences, Islamic Curriculum and Islamic Studies were selected and designed for the purpose of research. Validation of designed curriculum was carried out in two stages. At first, the validity and validity of the curriculum as a product was evaluated through a questionnaire from a group of 20 experts and the effectiveness of the curriculum was carried out in a semi - experimental design with a pre - test and post - test design with the control group. Participants in this phase of the study consisted of 40 students from two thematic classrooms of the Holy Qur'an, randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Also, the results of the analysis of the data revealed a significant difference between the mean scores of students' critical thinking in the experimental group compared to the control group. The findings indicate the acceptable validity of the designed critical thinking curriculum for the cognitive course based on the allegorical verses and the narrative of the Holy Qur'an.