The Development of an Enrichment Curriculum in Thai Language to Enhance Analytical Thinking Skills for the Third-Year Secondary Schools Students

Abstract

The study had the following objectives: 1) to investigate problems and needs for developing an enrichment curriculum in Thai language to enhance analytical thinking skills for third-year secondary school students; 2) to develop an enrichment curriculum in Thai language aimed at enhancing analytical thinking skills for third-year secondary school students; and 3) to assess the effectiveness of the enrichment curriculum through the following: 3.1) exploring students' analytical thinking skills, 3.2) comparing the learning achievements of students who studied the enrichment curriculum with those who studied the regular curriculum, and 3.3) evaluating students’ satisfaction with the learning management according to the enrichment curriculum. The sample group consisted of: 24 teachers and 316 students for investigating problems and needs, totaling 88 participants selected via stratified sampling; and 88 students from third-year secondary school, studying in the second semester of 2023 at Benchamarachuthit School under the jurisdiction of the Secondary Educational Service Area Office of Ubon Ratchathani and Amnat Charoen. These students were selected through cluster sampling, followed by simple random sampling, with one classroom chosen as the experimental group and another as the control group. The research tools included a questionnaire, enrichment curriculum, test, and satisfaction survey. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, and t-test.

          From the study, the following results were found: 1) Students rated problems at a high level ( = 4.18, S.D. = 0.70), whereas needs were rated at a high level ( = 4.13, S.D. = 0.69). Teachers rated problems at a high level ( = 3.99, S.D. = 0.90), whereas needs were rated at a high level ( = 3.88, S.D. = 1.06). 2) The enrichment curriculum developed by the researcher included principles, objectives, learning outcomes, content structure, learning activities, learning media, measurement and evaluation methods, and criteria for course completion. Experts rated the curriculum's propriety at a high level ( = 4.01, S.D. = 0.52). 3) The efficiency of the enrichment curriculum was evaluated based on the following findings: 3.1) Students demonstrated analytical thinking skills at a rate of 83.65%, indicating a high level of efficiency. The curriculum's efficiency was rated at 83.65 (E1) and 81.07 (E2), surpassing the standard criteria of 80/80; 3.2) The experimental group, which studied the enrichment curriculum, achieved higher learning achievements than the control group, which followed the regular curriculum, with statistical significance at the .05 level; and 3.3) Students expressed high satisfaction with the study and learning management according to the enrichment curriculum.