Developing the skills of critical and creative thinking by probability teaching

The study reported here described a small step in the direction of developing additional learning units within the traditional curriculum. It is apparent that if a teacher makes a decision to focus on improving higher order thinking and perseveres over time, the chances are good that the teacher will succeed. The purpose of this study was to explore whether teaching our specially designed learning unit would enhance the students’ critical and or creativity thinking. The unit “Probability in Daily Life” was taught to a group of tenth-grade students, with the purpose of encouraging critical thinking dispositions such as open-mindedness, truth-seeking, self-confidence and maturity. The teacher encouraged class discussion and planned investigative lessons. The students completed a pre and post CCTDI test. The findings of the present research are likely to help composing new study programs and methods that can be based on the connection between critical thinking, creative thinking and the study of mathematics, which this research brings.