Arab Educational Information Network

This study aimed at identifying productive thinking skills included in the content of mathematics curricula for the high basic stage, and the extent of its acquiring for the tenth grade students. The main question of this study: "What are the productive thinking skills included in the content of mathematics curricula for the high basic stage, and the extent of its acquiring for the tenth grade students?". The main question has the following sub-question: 1) What are the productive thinking skills which should be available in the content of mathematics curricula for the high basic stage? 2) What are the productive thinking skills included in the content of mathematics curricula for the high basic stage? 3) What is the level of tenth student acquisition of productive thinking skills? 4) Does the level of productive thinking skills differ in the tenth grade student regarding the gender? The researcher used the descriptive analytic approach in order to collect and interpret the data about the content of mathematics curricula, and the sample included the examples, activities, exercises and questions and generalizations contained in the content of mathematics curricula for each of the eighth, ninth and tenth grades, also included (110) students of tenth grade students in Rafah. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher prepared a list of productive thinking skills, which consisted of (7) skills classified under two types of thinking: critical thinking, and creative thinking. Critical thinking included (a deduction, predicting assumptions, evaluating arguments and discussions, and interpretation. Creative thinking included of: (originality, fluency, flexibility), also the researcher used content analysis tool, to be used in analyze the content of mathematics curricula for eighth, ninth and tenth basic grades enlightened of the productive thinking skills, also the researcher prepared a test to measure to what extent can tenth students acquire productive thinking skills. To ascertain the validity of content analysis tool, it was presented to a group of arbitrators, as the researcher analyzed the first part of the mathematics book for eighth grade, where it was found the comprehensiveness of the list of the productive skills for most of indicators involving in the content, and to calculate the stability of the tool, the researcher used coefficient stability over time, which is reach (94.39%), and the coefficient stability across individuals, which reach the value (91.84%). Also researcher ascertain the validity of the productive thinking test, through presented to a group of arbitrators and specialists in curricula, supervisors and teachers of mathematics, also used the Pearson correlation coefficient to measure the validity of internal consistency of the test. To verify the test stability, the researcher calculated Cronbach's alpha coefficient where reach (0.70), and using the mid-term, the value of Jetman coefficient was (0.71), which assures the researcher applied the test to the study sample. For analysis the study data, the researcher used the following statistical methods: percentages, averages, duplicates, t-test for the difference between the averages of two independent samples, and t-test for one sample. Study findings: Regarding content analysis in the light of productive thinking skills: Critical thinking has got a percentage of (%95.45), while creative thinking has got (%4.54), and regarding the basic skills: deduction has got a percentage of (%41.95) and evaluating arguments and discussions has got (%19.19), while predicting assumptions has got (%17.78), interpretation has got (%16.58), while flexibility has got (%1.67), and fluency has got (%1.62), but originality has got (%1.25). As for the test of productive thinking skills, results have shown that the performance of the sample for the productive thinking test was weak, and without an acceptable level, that the performance percentage was (%28.5), and the level of critical thinking was (% 53.8), while the acquisition of creative thinking skills level was (%15.5), and for the basic skills of productive thinking: interpretation was the highest percentage with percentage (%59.3), and then came the prediction assumptions with the percentage (% 58.7), then evaluating arguments and discussions with(% 52.1), then the deduction with (% 42.4), then fluency with (%27.5), and originality with (%7.2), then flexibility where the percentage (6%). Also it showed that there were no statistical significant differences in the level of productive thinking skills in mathematics content due to gender. (Author's abstract)