1081 International Conference on New Trends in Education and Their Implications 11-13 November, 2010 Antalya-Turkey ISBN: 978 605 364 104 9 A Critical View To Primary Curricula In Turkey From The Aspect Of Thinking Skills Assist.Prof.Dr. Melek Demirel Hacettepe University, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences Division of Curriculum and Instruction melekdemirel@gmail.com Selen Yazgünoğlu Hacettepe University, Institute of Social Sciences Division of Curriculum and Instruction selenyazgunoglu@windowslive.com Abstract This research examines the primary curricula in Turkey from the perspective of thinking skills and makes an attempt at determining the skills emphasized in each course. This study aims to analyze the primary curricula in terms of thinking skills from a conceptual viewpoint and it uses the method of document analysis, one of the methods of qualitative research. Life Sciences, Social Studies, Science and Technology, Mathematics and Turkish curricula designed by the Turkish Ministry of National Education were used as the source of data in this research. The gains, skills and activities serving to develop the thinking skills in the curricula examined were regarded as the units of content analysis. Based on the findings, it may be suggested that the primary curricula in Turkey are structured in a manner so as to facilitate thinking skills to students and that they are more sensitive and more supplied than the former curricula in terms of developing the thinking skills. INTRODUCTION The view that thinking skills are among the targets of educational institutions to be instilled in students is commonly agreed today. Educators, who attract attention to the significance of thinking skills, emphasize the idea that graduates should not only be literate people but also be good thinkers. Learning how to think means securing the occurrence of meaningful learning. According to educators, thinking skills include the skills of comparing, summarizing, determining the basic thoughts, distinguishing between facts and opinions, classifying, generalizing, reporting, commenting on the evidence, criticizing, making suppositions, imagining, organizing the data, hypothesizing making decisions, generating projects, researching and analyzing the knowledge on the part of students. Sigel (1991:43) pointed out that thinking was sometimes used in the sense of intelligence but that it was distinct from intelligence. Sigel believes that intelligence is related to abilities or competence while thinking involves analysis, synthesis, evaluation, problem solving, reflecting, classifying and reasoning of differing kinds (cited in Kaya and Dönmez, 2008: 108). In order to be able to keep existing in today’s societies of information and technology, individuals must posses certain skills. Individuals who can question, generate solutions, create original products are the individuals with developed thinking skills. Knowing how to think must be a skill that education instills in learners. Our thinking skill is influential in how well we receive the new knowledge and process it (İprişoğlu, 1997). Resnick and Klopfer (1989), emphasize the need for the entire educational program to be restructured so that thinking skills can be nurtured and cultivated in all students through proper instruction since all learning involves thinking. Creative thinking is a form of thinking which is in pursuit of novelty or introduces novel solutions to older problems and leads to the emergence of original thoughts (Oğuzkan, 1974). In order for a person to be able to think creatively, he should have self-confidence, think independently, be able to go beyond the usual patterns and rules, and should be provided with freedom and an