A Study of Developing the Thinking-Friendly Classroom Scale (TFCS)

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid measurement tool to assess the
characteristics of a thinking-friendly classroom. A total of 332 fifth-grade students participated in the study.
Cronbach Alpha analysis, experts’ review, exploratory factor analysis and correlation analysis were performed on the
data. Results show that the scale consists of 30 items and three factors. Cronbach Alpha Internal consistency
coefficients for these dimensions, which explained 42.36% of the total variance, were .89, .81 and .69 respectively; it
was .89 for the whole scale. Considering these results, it can be concluded that the Thinking-Friendly Classroom
Scale is a reliable and valid tool in finding out the level of suitability of the fifth grade classroom environments to
develop thinking skills.