Development of 7E Learning Cycle Management Plans to Enhance Critical Thinking of Lower Secondary School Students

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1) to construct and develop 7E-learning cycle plans to enhance critical thinking of lower secondary school students, 2) to study the efficiency of the developed learning plan, 3) to compare the students’ critical thinking skill before and after learning through the 7E-learning cycle, and 4) to study the opinions of the students regarding the 7E-learning cycle to promote critical thinking. The sample were 41 Mattayom Suksa 2 students. The research instruments were a questionnaire, a critical thinking skill test, and a questionnaire to elicit the students’ opinions about the 7E-learning cycle. The data were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation, and the Wilcoxon Range.

            The research findings were as follows:

1. There were 9 learning plans in the 7E-learning cycle, each of which contained the following activities: checking background knowledge, activating the interest to learn, surveying and information searching, explaining, knowledge expanding, evaluating, and utilizing the learned knowledge.  
2. The efficiency of the developed learning management plans was 75.12/78.78 which was higher than the established criteria 70/70. The efficiency index point was 0.617, which means the efficiency rate was at 61.70 percent
3. The posttest scores of critical thinking skill were higher than pre-test scores at the significant level of .01.
4. The students perceived that the efficiency of the 7E-learning cycle learning management was at a high level.