A NEEDS ASSESSMENT FOR PROMOTING ANALYTICAL THINKING SKILLS OF EARLY CHILDHOOD CHILDREN IN SCHOOLS UNDER PRIMARY EDUCATIONAL SERVICE AREA OFFICE 1 SAKON NAKHON

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to 1) examine the components of analytical thinking skills of early childhood children in schools under Primary Educational Service Area Office 1 Sakon Nakhon, 2) explore current and expected conditions of analytical thinking skills of early childhood children, 3) assess the need for promoting analytical thinking skills of early childhood children, and 4) establish guidelines for promoting analytical thinking skills of early childhood children in schools Primary Educational Service Area Office 1 Sakon Nakhon. The sample, obtained through multi–stage random sampling, included 191 early childhood teachers in schools under Primary Educational Service Area Office 1 Sakon Nakhon, during the 2022 academic year. The research instrument was a set of 5–level rating scale questionnaires, which demonstrated an Index of item objective congruence (IOC) in terms of current situations ranging from 0.60 to 1.00, discriminative power from 0.54 to 0.86, with a reliability of 0.97. The expected conditions also had an IOC ranging from 0.60 to 1.00, discriminative power values ranging from 0.55 to 0.82, with a reliability of 0.97, and a set of questionnaires assessing the development guidelines. Statistics for data analysis included frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Priority Needs Index (PNI_modified), and confirmatory factor analysis.

The research results indicated that 1) the analytical thinking skills of early childhood children consisted of three components: categorization, classification, and comparison, each of which was appropriate at the highest level. The model for measuring the analytical thinking skills of early childhood children was consistent with the empirical data (𝑥² = 0.00, df = 0, p–value = 1.00, GFI = 1.00, AGFI = 1.00, RMR = 0.00, RMSEA = 0.00). Component weights ranging from 0.89 to 0.94 showed differences at the .01 level of significance, with comparison being the most weighted component, followed by classification and categorization, respectively; 2) The current conditions of analytical thinking skills of early childhood children were overall at a high level, while the expected conditions were overall at the highest level; 3) The need assessment on promoting analytical thinking skills in early childhood revealed an overall PNI_modified value of 0.118. When ranking each aspect from highest to lowest needs index values, comparison ranked first (PNI_modified = 0.138), followed by categorization (PNI_modified = 0.117), and classification (PNI_modified = 0.099, and 4) The guidelines for promoting analytical thinking skills in early childhood children focused on the comparison aspect, which had the three highest importance index values: identify differences in smells,  comparing items with similar sounds, and distinguishing between sounds of different objects.