Formation of Critical Thinking of Primary Schoolstudents in the Context of the New Ukrainian School

The article is devoted to the process of forming critical thinking of primary school students. The modern requirements of the state legislation on the formation of critical thinking of Ukrainians in general and primary school students in particular are analysed. The concept of ‘critical thinking’ in the scientific context is characterised. The structure of critical thinking is presented, namely: activity, intellectual-procedural and emotional components. A research programme is developed and a pedagogical experiment is conducted to determine the level of critical thinking of primary school students.

Based on the study of modern philosophical, psychological, pedagogical, cultural studies of scientists, as well as the requirements of the NUS concept, the State Standard of Primary Education and other legislative documents, the following criteria for the formation of critical thinking of primary schoolchildren were identified and characterised: cognitive, analytical and personal components.

In accordance with the criteria of critical thinking of junior schoolchildren, low, medium and high levels of its formation have been identified.

The results of the analysis of the ascertaining stage of the experiment showed that the critical thinking of primary school students by all criteria was insufficiently formed. Therefore, the experimental programme ‘Habit of Thinking’ was developed and implemented, the objectives of which were to develop critical thinking skills in primary school students, and the results showed the effectiveness of the experimental work.