Effectiveness of the Circular Debate Strategy in Enhancing Collective Thinking Skills in Reading Lessons: Transitioning from Individual to Collaborative Thinking

Abstract

The current study aimed to design a proposed program in reading based on the Circular Debate Strategy to enhance specific aspects of collective thinking skills among middle school students. The study employed an experimental methodology using a one-group pretest-posttest design. The sample consisted of 40 students from the middle school stage. To achieve the study's objectives, several instruments and materials were developed, including a list of collective thinking skills appropriate for middle school students, a teacher’s guide, a student book, and a collective thinking skills test. The targeted collective thinking skills were categorized into three main dimensions: group idea generation, cooperative argumentation, and synthesis of diverse perspectives. The findings revealed that the Circular Debate Strategy had a strong positive impact on developing collective thinking among the participating students. This highlights the importance of integrating structured debate strategies into reading programs to promote students’ collaborative cognitive abilities. Based on these results, the study presents a set of educational recommendations and suggestions for future research.