The mediating role of critical thinking dispositions between secondary school student's self-efficacy and problem-solving skills

This research examines whether critical thinking dispositions significantly mediate secondary school students' self-efficacy and problem-solving skills. The sample of the study consisted of a total of 304 secondary school students. Study data were obtained by using the "Problem-Solving Skills Perception Scale for Secondary School Students", "Critical Thinking Disposition Scale for Secondary School Students", and "Middle School Self-Efficacy Scale." It was examined whether the scores of the variables in the study were normally distributed. After it was understood that the data were normally distributed, the analyses were conducted. The relationships between the variables were analyzed with Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis and significant relationships were found between the variables. Then, a mediation model was established to analyze whether critical thinking has a mediating role in the relationship between middle school students' self-efficacy and problem-solving skills. The significance of the indirect effect in this mediation model was tested by the bootstrapping procedure. In the study, it was concluded that all variables were positively and significantly related to each other and critical thinking significantly mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and problem-solving skills in secondary school students.