Critical Thinking Skills of Students in Online Tutorials Based on Problem-based Learning for Mathematics Curriculum Analysis

Critical thinking skills are one of the abilities required for students to be skilful in analysing, synthesising, concluding and decision making. Postgraduate programmes typically have no valid information regarding student’s critical thinking skills. This research’s objective was to access students’ critical thinking skills in an online tutorial for a mathematics curriculum analysis course by using problem-based learning (PBL). PBL was used for this research because research indicates that this method could stimulate students’ critical thinking skills through problem solving. This study included approximately 40 students using an online mathematics curriculum analysis tutorial application in January, 2013. To obtain data on the students’ critical thinking skills, researchers observed the discussion forum of the online tutorial. The data were qualitatively analysed. Overall, the students’ critical thinking skills were good. The students’ best results were in the Compare and Contrast category, namely approximately 91.25%, and the lowest result was approximately 70.625% for the group Creating category. The results indicated that students had the capability to make a decision properly accompanied by a relevant argument and evidence. In addition, the students had properly conducted investigations to reach their decision.