Društvene i Humanističke Studije (Nov 2020)
The Quality of Students’ School Life in Classical Religious Teaching and Teaching Developing Critical Thinking
Abstract
The subject of this experimental research was the quality of students’ school life. The aim was to investigate whether there is a statistically significant difference in the quality of school life between students involved in classical religious teaching and teaching developing critical thinking. An experimental method, a method of theoretical analysis, and a descriptive-analytical method were used. The data were gathered by the means of a survey. The questionnaire measuring the quality of school life, developed by Ainley and Bourke (1992, Leonard, 2002), was used in the research. The study was conducted in two city schools in Zenica, one experimental (Elementary school Mak Dizdar, Zenica) and one control (Elementary school Musa Ćazim Ćatić, Zenica). The sample comprised 300 students, the sixth and eighth-graders, with 150 students in the experimental group and 150 in the control group, while both groups consisted of 75 male and 75 female students. The results showed that the students being taught Islamic religion to develop critical thinking were statistically significantly more satisfied with the school, had better relationships with their teachers achieved better social integration, and had better learning experience than the students being taught in a classical way. Likewise, the students involved in the classical teaching process had statistically significantly more negative feelings towards school than those students involved in teaching developing critical thinking. These study findings confirmed the value of critical thinking development within religious education.
