The effectiveness of critical thinking training on academic self-regulation and problem-solving ability of students

One of the main goals of training in the modern education system is the development of critical thinking in students, which prepares them to become thinkers instead of just receiving knowledge. However, little research evidence has been done on critical thinking training, its content, and its effects on our society, which provides the need for doing research in this field. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effectiveness of critical thinking training on high school students' academic self-regulation and problem-solving ability. The current research was a field experiment with a pre-test and post-test design. Thirty-nine students were selected by multistage cluster sampling from boys' high schools and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups. Two groups were interviewed at the beginning and end of the research and answered the questionnaires on academic self-regulation and problem-solving styles. The experimental group came under the critical thinking training for eight sessions, one session per week. The ANCOVA analyses showed that critical thinking training significantly improved academic self-regulation strategies and the problem-solving styles of students in the experimental group compared to the control group. It seems that by using critical thinking training and generalizing it to different social contexts, it is possible to improve students' academic self-regulation and problem-solving skills in interaction with the educational and social environments. This can be a potential capacity for increasing academic achievement, cultivating thoughtful citizens, and developing a democratic society.