THE EFFECTS OF USING AN INSTRUCTIONAL MODEL BASED ON THE PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN APPROACH AND YONISO MANASIKARA CONCEPT TO ENHANCE CRITICAL THINKING FOR GRADE 6 STUDENTS

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) Study the conditions, problems, and guidelines for organizing instruction based on the Philosophy for Children approach integrated with the concept of Yonisomanasikara to enhance critical thinking ability for Grade 6 students, 2) Develop an instructional model, 3) Study the effects of implementing the instructional model, and 4) Evaluate the instructional model.
This study employed a four-phase research and development design. Phase 1 examined the conditions, problems, and guidelines for instructional management; the sample consisted of 267 school administrators and 280 teachers under the Ubon Ratchathani Primary Educational Service Area Office. Phase 2 involved developing the instructional model, with quality verification by five experts. Phase 3 involved implementing the model with Grade 6 students at Ban Kratiat School (10 students as the experimental group) and Ban Na Nang Wan School (10 students as the control group). Phase 4 involved evaluating the model using a satisfaction questionnaire and a model confirmation form. The statistics employed were percentage, mean, standard deviation, and non-parametric statistics, namely the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test and the Mann-Whitney U Test. The research findings revealed that: 1) The condition of instructional management was at the lowest level, while the problems and the guidelines were at the highest level; 2) The developed model comprised five components, with an overall appropriateness evaluation at the highest level ( = 4.57); 3) The experimental group students' critical thinking ability after the intervention was significantly higher than before the intervention, higher than the 75% criterion, and higher than that of the control group, at the .01 level of statistical significance; and 4) Students' satisfaction with the model was at the highest level ( = 4.70), and the model confirmation results were at the highest level ( = 4.57).