| Abstract [eng] |
The Master's thesis "The Possibility of Universal Design for Learning to Develop Critical Thinking in Primary School Students" analyses a topical issue in contemporary education - how the educational process can help children acquire the skills they need to live in an environment of rapid change, information abundance and social uncertainty. One of the key competences is critical thinking, which has been identified as a priority in international documents (OECD, UNESCO, WEF) and is one of the key 21st century skills. At the same time, the reality of education in Lithuania is still dominated by traditional teaching methods, and the development of critical thinking, especially in primary education, is facing challenges. This paper explores a promising educational paradigm with little empirical basis - Universal Design for Learning (UDM). This approach, designed to increase accessibility and accommodate student diversity, has not yet been widely adopted in Lithuanian educational practice. The study aims to answer the question whether UDM can be an effective tool for developing critical thinking in primary school students. The object of the study is the expression of universal design for learning and its relation to students' critical thinking skills. The aim of the study is to identify the potential of universal design for learning to develop critical thinking skills in primary school students. Objectives: 1. To describe the theoretical links between the development of critical thinking and the principles of universal design for learning by analysing the literature; 2. develop a research design and justify the research methodology; 3. to identify the differences in critical thinking between students in UDM classrooms and standard general education classrooms. The theoretical part of the thesis provides an overview of the main principles of critical thinking education: fostering emotional engagement, personalisation of learning, collaborative and dialogic practices, metacognitive skills, higher order thinking processes and the ability to apply knowledge in different contexts. The analysis of the links between these principles and the key components of UDM - the elicitation of affective, cognitive and strategic networks - showed that UDM can enable the development of critical thinking not only individually but also structurally. The hypothesis of the study is that 4th grade students in UDM education have higher critical thinking skills than students in traditional classrooms. The research methodology is based on a quasi-experimental design. Participants were 81 students from four fourth grade classrooms (two UDM, two traditional), and data were collected through classroom observation of the UDM Expression Protocol, a teacher survey, and testing of students' critical thinking skills. The research instruments were developed based on the UDM guidelines, the updated Bloom's Taxonomy and the Paul and Elder Critical Thinking Model. The results showed that students in the UDM classrooms scored slightly higher on critical thinking skills than those in the traditional classrooms, but the differences did not reach statistical significance. Nevertheless, the correlation analysis provided insights into the differences in the development of skills in UDM and traditional classrooms. Limitations of the study: small sample size, varying levels of UDM application, one-off testing. The study provides insights and recommendations for future research, which should be more extensive and include qualitative data. Key findings: 1. Although UDM is not directly oriented towards critical thinking, its principles theoretically create a favourable environment for the development of these skills. 2. The research design was based on a quasi-experimental design, which allowed for a comparison of the relationship between different educational environments and students' critical thinking, but the study had methodological limitations. 3. The mere presence of the UDM methodology in the classroom does not guarantee the growth of critical thinking, but the quality of the application, the competence of the teacher, the provision of sufficient resources and the support of the environment become important. The results of the work have practical implications for educators and researchers in education. They show that UDM can be a strategy not only for inclusive education, but also for the development of higher order thinking skills, especially if applied in a targeted and reflective way. The results of this study confirm the need not only to further deepen the understanding of UDM practices in Lithuanian schools, but also to continue the search for effective approaches to critical thinking development. |
