Abstract

This study aims to analyze and compare school subjects to determine the extent to which critical thinking skills are being engaged in school subjects’ questions and activities in public education. Five Arab countries are included in this paper; Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Arab Republic of Egypt, and The Tunisian Republic, in elementary school levels (first, second, and third grades.)The study found that all Arab countries focus on operating inductive reasoning skills in their subjects, followed by reasoning and observation, sequentially, while dismissing credibility and assumptions skills. Saudi Arabia focused on developing critical thinking skills in science textbooks for the past three academic years, while Kuwait had the same focus on their Arabic language classes. Both the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Egypt have paid a measurable attention to engaging critical thinking skills in Mathematics and the Arabic language, as well as Tunisia in their science textbooks. The least effective subjects in operating critical thinking skills were the Arabic language in Saudi Arabia, science in Kuwait, Domestic Economics in Egypt, and Islamic education in Jordan and Tunisia.

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