Analysis of the Content of the Curricular Educational Activities of Social Textbooks for the Intermediate Stage in the Light of Pivotal Thinking Skills

Abstract

The study aims to analyze the content of curricular educational activities in humanities textbooks for the intermediate stage in light of core thinking skills. To achieve this goal, the researcher reviewed educational literature and previous studies related to content analysis, activities, thinking, and core thinking skills. Based on these findings, the researcher developed a research instrument consisting of eight main skills and nineteen sub-skills. The instrument was presented to a group of experts and specialists in psychological and educational sciences, and after verifying its validity—with an approval rate of 80% using the Chi-square test—the researcher ensured that the instrument was suitable for its intended purpose, a total of 264 activities from humanities textbooks for the intermediate stage were analyzed. To ensure reliability, the researcher re-evaluated the results over time and consulted other analysts. The consistency of the analysis was found to be very high using Cooper’s formula,The results of the analysis showed that the most frequently occurring skill was Expansion, with 28 occurrences, accounting for 15.05% of the total. The Standard Building skill appeared 19 times (10.21%). The Summarization skill had 14 occurrences (7.52%), followed by Prediction, which appeared 13 times (6.98%). The Comparison skill had 12 occurrences (6.45%), while the Goal-Setting skill appeared 11 times (5.91%). The Problem Identification skill had 10 occurrences (5.37%), Skills such as Observation and Recall appeared 9 times (4.83%). Skills including Question Formulation, Classification, Reasoning, and Reconstruction had 7 occurrences (3.76%). The skills Coding, Sequencing, and Identifying Patterns and Relationships were recorded 6 times (3.22%). Finally, the skills Representation, Feature Identification, and Error Detection appeared 5 times (2.68%), The results indicate that the designers of humanities curricula for the intermediate stage did not adequately incorporate activities aligned with core thinking skills. Based on these findings, the researcher provided several conclusions, recommendations, and suggestions for improvement.