The Development of Activity Based Learning to Enhance Critical Thinking Ability of Early Childhood Teacher Students

Abstract

The purpose of this research were to 1) compare the critical thinking ability of the early childhood teacher students before and after learning by activity based learning, and 2) study the satisfaction of the early childhood teacher students. The participants in this research consisted of 29 students in the program of early childhood, Faculty of education, Phetchaburi Rajabhat University. They obtained by using purposive sampling. Research instruments included of three parts: 1) lesson plan of activity based learning 2) the critical thinking ability assessment, and 3) student satisfaction questionnaire. The statistics used for data analysis were percent, mean, standard deviation, and content analysis.

The research finding were as follows: 1) The critical thinking ability of the early childhood teacher students after learning by activity based learning (𝑥̅= 17.93, S.D. = 3.49) was higher than before (𝑥̅= 10.66, S.D. = 3.37) 2) The satisfaction of the early childhood teacher students towards learning by activity based learning, in overall was at the highest level (𝑥̅= 4.84, S.D. = 0.37)