BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING AND MORAL REASONING SKILLS OF BACHELOR OF TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL TEACHER EDUCATION

JOHN MARK  O. CUENTO,

BARRIERS TO CRITICAL THINKING AND MORAL REASONING SKILLS OF BACHELOR OF TECHNICAL VOCATIONAL TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract:

This study aimed to determine the barriers to critical thinking and in moral reasoning of students of Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng Lucena. The study focused on the following barriers that affects the critical thinking of the students such as: Over-reliance on feelings or emotions, Self-centered or societal/ cultural centered thinking (conformism, dogmatism and peer pressure). Unconscious bias or selective perception, Close-mindedness, Unwarranted assumptions, Poor Communication, Lack of personal honesty. It also determines if the barriers to critical thinking can also be applied in moral reasoning. The study used the descriptive correlational research designs. The purposive sampling technique was utilized in the selection of the respondents of the study. Weighted arithmetic mean (WAM) and Pearson r correlation were used in analyzing, interpreting and tabulating the data. The result disclosed that the respondents demonstrated the highest response on over reliance on feelings or emotions under the barriers that affects their critical thinking (WAM=3.19) with a verbal description of Often. The respondents also manifested the highest response on over reliance on feelings or emotions under the barriers to critical thinking applied in their moral reasoning (WAM=3.09) with a verbal description of Often. Along with the result, it was also concluded that, there is a significant difference between the barriers to critical thinking applied in moral reasoning skills of Bachelor of Technical Vocational Teachers Education (BTVTEd) students with the variance of 0.21 and 0.25 at 66 degree of freedom with the equivalent t-value of -2.01 and a critical value of 2.00, significant at 0.05 level of significant. Based on the conclusions derived from the findings of this study, the following recommendations are hereby suggested to the following: for the students, Use the information derived from the result of the study for the effective assessment of critical thinking and moral reasoning skills. For the teachers, Conduct an evaluation and closely monitor the effective assessment of students’ critical thinking and moral reasoning skills.