Abstract

The present study aimed to find out the level of critical thinking skills of a Jordanian sample of blind students and its relationship with some variables, namely the gender and class level variable. To achieve the objectives of the study, the researcher developed the California Critical Thinking Scale in line with the characteristics of the blind, with the help of several teachers of blind students with experience and expertise. First, the indications of validity and reliability of the scale were extracted by applying the tool to an exploratory sample of (30) male and female blind students. After that, the scale was applied to the final sample from all the governorates of Jordan, which amounted to 66 students from grades tenth, first secondary, second secondary. Then, the data were collected and analyzed. The results indicated that the arithmetic average of the blind students' responses to the California Critical Thinking Test was less than the educationally acceptable standard of (80%); for the five critical thinking skills that were included in the scale, the arithmetic averages of all skills were below the educationally acceptable level, and the highest mean was for the induction skill, then the evaluation skill, inference skill, analysis skill and finally the deduction skill. It is indicated that there are no differences attributed to the gender and class level variables. The study recommended the necessity of providing blind students with critical thinking skills, and providing training courses for blind teachers to activate the critical thinking skills of blind students.

Key words: Critical thinking, blind, California critical thinking scale.