journal of kerbala university

The present study intends to show the impact of SQ3R strategy in developing the critical thinking of literary fifth grade girl students in history subject .
The researcher chose an experimental design of partial control and randomly took Buratha Secondary School as a research sample which consisted of 60 students : 30 students represented the control group and the same number as the experimental one.
The researcher equalized the two groups in some variables such as age , history marks of the previous grade: 2012-2013 , intelligence level , parent's education and critical prethinking .
It was decided that the study materials represented the first three chapters of Modern and Contemporary European History . This book was chosen by the ministry of education in 2012 – 2013 .
The researcher specified 124 behavioural aims for the three chapters, and prepared a lesson plan for the two groups, some of which were shown to experts specialized in Teaching Methods

and Assessment and Evaluation, Psychology and History.
The researcher prepared the critical thinking test of 45 items .She made sure of its validity by showing it to experts and jury , and of its reliability by applying it on a pilot sample of Jumana Secondary school through the use of Pearson's correlation coefficient .The correlation value was 79.0 after correcting it through the Spearman–Brown formula .
The researcher taught the two samples by herself during the experiment period which continued for ten days . After completing the experiment , the researcher applied the critical thinking test on the two samples .
The study arrived to the following finding ; there is a significant difference at 0.05 for the experimental group which studied SQ3R strategy at the expense of the control group which studied according to the traditional method of developing the critical thinking .
On the light of the finding , the researcher arrived to some conclusions . Applying the SQ3R strategy in teaching History had a positive impact in increasing the students' abilities of critical thinking .It also enhances their motivations ,and concentration to the material because it is one of the modern strategies . The researcher recommends the use of SQ3R strategy in teaching followed by asking questions relevant to the lesson presented which by turn develops the students' high thinking level and deepens their understanding of the subject and critical thinking abilities .
The researcher suggests to conduct a similar study on other subjects and different grades .In addition , another experimental study can be done to investigate the influence of this strategy on another variable such as the creative thinking on History subject .