Developing critical thinking through the use of non-standard text-based tasks in mathematics education for third-grade primary school students

Abstract

Introduction: In a rapidly changing world, where children are faced with an overload of information from an early age, developing critical thinking is becoming a key task for education. This applies not only to young people but also to early school education, where critical thinking can be developed in various teaching areas, including mathematics education.

Research Aim: The study aimed to examine how the use of non-standard text tasks develops selected components of critical thinking in third-grade primary school pupils. The study focused on such elements of critical thinking as analysis, synthesis, reasoning, evaluation and problem solving.

Method: The study consisted of a pedagogical experiment in a pre-test – intervention – post-test format, involving 73 pupils from three third-grade primary school classes. An original diagnostic test containing six text tasks (two standard and four non-standard) was used, completed twice: before and after a series of ten mathematics lessons focused on solving unusual text tasks.

Results: After the experiment, a clear improvement in the pupils' skills was observed. They were much better at solving non-standard tasks – they more often noticed missing, redundant, or contradictory data and responded appropriately to such problems. The quality of solutions to standard tasks also improved, and key components of critical thinking were developed.

Conclusions: The results confirm effectiveness of non-standard text tasks as a tool for developing critical thinking in early school education. Introducing such tasks into mathematics classes not only allows pupils to better understand the problem contained in the task, but also enables them to improve their logical thinking skills.