Abstract

The purpose of the present research is to define the critical thinking levels and reading habits of students studying at the department of physical education and sports teaching and analysing the relationship between these. The participants of the present research are 136 pre-service physical education teachers studying at Mugla Sitki Kocman University Faculty of Sport Sciences and Marmara University School of Physical Education and Sports in 2015-2016 Academic Year Fall Semester. The relations between variables were tested with correlation analysis at 0.01 significance level, and the differences were tested with Mann-Whitney U at 0.05 significance level. Two scales were utilized in order to define pre-service physical education and sport teachers’ critical thinking and reading habit levels. These scales are; California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and Scale for Attitudes towards Book Reading Habits. According to the findings obtained in the present research, pre-service physical education and sport teachers’ both critical thinking and book reading habits are at medium level. There is a positive and significant correlation between pre-service physical education teachers’ critical thinking levels and book reading habits. As book reading habits of pre-service teachers increase their critical thinking levels increase accordingly.

Key words: Critical thinking, reading habit, physical education, teacher.