AN INVESTIGATION OF SYSTEMS THINKING SKILLS AMONG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS UNDER THE OFFICE OF THE BASIC EDUCATION COMMISSION
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Abstract
This study aimed to examine the level of systems thinking skills among elementary school students under the Office of the Basic Education Commission. This study employed a quantitative research design. The sample consisted of 1,932 students in Grades 4–6 from 403 schools, selected using convenience sampling. The instrument used in this study was the Systems Thinking Assessment (STA) consisting of 19 items adapted from an instrument used in previous international research (Zanella, 2022). The instrument was modified to suit the Thai educational context and its content validity was verified. It covered five components of systems thinking: holistic thinking, system-as-cause thinking, dynamic thinking, closed-loop thinking, and scientific thinking. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.72. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, including mean, standard deviation, and level classification. The results indicated that, when the mean scores were considered in relation to the full scores of each component, scientific thinking showed the highest level ( = 1.56, SD = 0.92), followed by closed-loop thinking (
= 1.47, SD = 0.92), dynamic thinking (
= 1.87, SD = 1.15), and system-as-cause thinking (
= 2.69, SD = 1.33), respectively. Holistic thinking showed the lowest mean score (
= 0.86, SD = 0.79), indicating that students still have limitations in perceiving the overall structure of systems and understanding the relationships among system components. The findings provide baseline information for curriculum development and instructional design aimed at enhancing elementary students' systems thinking skills.
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