Incorporating scientific and critical thinking in early childhood education is essential for developing individuals with strong thinking skills. This study assesses the impact of promoting scientific thinking on the development of critical thinking among fifth-graders in central Mexico. We hypothesize that involving students in scientific thinking tasks would further enhance essential thinking skills. The methodology involved longitudinal quasi-experimental design that included a pre-test and post-test, along with a comparison (control) group. Critical thinking was measured using a test that was applied at the start and end of our study to assess four thinking skills: classification, problem-solving, decision-making and logical reasoning. The control group was taught using a standardized methodology, while the experimental group was taught about the structure of the scientific method using a template with characters that guided each step: observation, question, hypothesis, experimentation and conclusions. Students from the critical and scientific thinking experimental group had higher scores on the post-assessment than those of the control group, suggesting that learning through scientific thinking tasks improved their critical thinking skills. Boys’ critical thinking scores were higher than girls’ in both groups, while scientific thinking scores were not associated with gender. We demonstrated that critical thinking improves when children incorporate scientific thinking into their learning abilities.

Las diatomeas desempeñan un papel esencial en los ecosistemas acuáticos al contribuir significativamente a la producción primaria global. Su alta sensibilidad a las condiciones fisicoquímicas del agua las convierte en bioindicadores de cambios ambientales, tales como la eutrofización, la contaminación y las variaciones en el régimen de luz y temperatura. El presente estudio aporta al conocimiento de la comunidad de diatomeas epilíticas y su distribución en tres sitios del río Apatlaco, Morelos, México. Las muestras se recolectaron en la superficie de rocas mediante un cepillo de cerdas suaves y se analizaron en microscopio para la identificación taxonómica. Se registraron 84 taxones pertenecientes a tres clases y 35 géneros. La clase Bacillariophyceae presentó la mayor riqueza específica, destacando las diatomeas pennales como las más diversas. Los géneros con mayor número de especies fueron Gomphonema (14), Navicula (11) y Nitzschia (8). La comunidad epilítica mostró una marcada variación espacial y temporal, con especies de amplia distribución a lo largo del estudio. Los parámetros fisicoquímicos del agua evidenciaron fluctuaciones asociadas con la estacionalidad. Este trabajo constituye el primer registro detallado de diatomeas en la cuenca del río Apatlaco y representa una contribución relevante para futuras investigaciones ecológicas y de monitoreo de la calidad del agua en la región.

This study evaluates the impact of an educational intervention aimed at teaching scientific thinking to fifth-grade elementary school students and its effect on critical thinking skills. The main concepts of scientific and critical thinking, along with evidence from educational research regarding their connections are reviewed. A longitudinal quasi-experimental design was employed, featuring two pre-existing fifth-grade classroom groups ( n = 60) established by the school prior to the study and we randomized only the assignment of intervention (control and experimental group). Specific tests were administered to assess critical and scientific thinking skills both before and after a 14-week intervention. The experimental group received explicit instruction in five scientific skills: observation, questioning, hypothesis formulation, experimentation, and conclusions. In contrast, the control group received standard instruction. Results indicated that the intervention led to large effect sizes in scientific thinking and moderate-to-large improvements in critical thinking skills, particularly in problem-solving and logical reasoning. Analysis of changes from baseline highlights the significant added value of the intervention compared to standard education. Both boys and girls benefited from the intervention, with some small gender differences observed. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between scientific thinking and critical thinking, as well as school grades. Predictive models suggest that scientific thinking skills can forecast critical thinking skills. Overall, this study provides empirical evidence that explicit instruction in scientific thinking in primary education enhances both scientific and critical thinking skills, supporting its integration into early science education. As a primary goal, the abstract should render the general significance and conceptual advance of the work clearly accessible to a broad readership. References should not be cited in the Leave the Abstract empty if your article does not require one – please see the “Article types” on every Frontiers journal page for full details.

Critical thinking is a fundamental skill of the 21st century and is essential in education to develop informed citizens capable of facing the challenges of today's world. In this work, the level of critical thinking of fifth-grade elementary school students in a public school in central Mexico was evaluated. A descriptive study was conducted to determine the level of critical thinking of fifth-grade elementary school students. The sample consisted of 77 students. The EdP_5P Thinking Challenges instrument was applied. Our results showed that students presented medium to high levels of critical thinking. Critical thinking did not differ in the levels of thinking of girls and boys. More research is needed that addresses other levels of development and grades of study that allow continuity of critical thinking in students throughout their school careers.