The effect of teaching neurocognitive functions on the Tabriz first cycle secondary school students' disposition toward critical thinking

The present research was done with the purpose of determining the effectiveness of training neurocognitive functions on the disposition of the first cycle secondary school students of Tabriz toward critical thinking. It was a quasi-experimental
research with pre-test post-test control group design. The research population included all male students of the first cycle secondary schools of Tabriz during 2016-2017 academic year. The research sample was selected using multistage cluster sampling method. First, 10 schools were selected from among the first cycle secondary schools of Tabriz. Then, from among those 10 schools, just 2 schools were chosen. 30 students from one school were chosen as the experimental group and 30 other students were chosen from the other school as control group. The experimental group was taught neurocognitive functions on planning during 20 sessions, cognitive flexibility during 10 sessions, and reinforcement of working memory during 11 sessions. To collect data, Ricketts’ critical thinking disposition questionnaire was used. The data was analyzed using the covariance statistical test. Findings revealed 0. 339 positive effect of training neurocognitive functions on the reinforcement of disposition toward critical thinking. Also, regarding the effectiveness of neurocognitive functions on the components of disposition to critical thinking, creativity and commitment, a positive effect was reported, whilst no difference was observed between the experimental and control groups regarding the eloquence component.