The Effect of Religious Free Thinking on Critical Thinking of the Students of Islamic Azad University of Kermanshah

This study is aimed at investigating the effect of religious free thinking on critical thinking of the students of the Islamic Azad University of Kermanshah. It is an experimental pretest-posttest study. The population under study contains the total community of undergraduate students in educational management at Islamic Azad University of Kermanshah numbering 54 people in 1395. Participants were divided into two groups of 27 individuals by simple random sampling. Critical Thinking Skills Questionnaire form California Critical Thinking Skills Test B, was used for data collection. The validity of the questionnaire was verified by a supervisor and several experts. The reliability of the questionnaire turned out to be as much as 0.61 - 0.76 based on Kuder and Richardson 20 formula. All participants were provided with explanations about the method of study, and they completed the questionnaire as a pretest. The research findings indicated that there was a significant difference between trained learners' performance based on religious free thinking education and the current program. Pupils who were trained through this method, were more successful than those who were trained through the current plan. The results confirmed that all the investigated components of critical thinking were influenced by this type of teaching.