Mutual relationships between the levels of cognitive interest in physics and critical thinking of primary-school students

This research paper deals with the issue of physics education in both forms of learning, a present form and a distance one. The authors discuss the ways of developing students' abilities to think critically by solving specific interdisciplinary qualitative physics tasks. Not only are these tasks suitable for traditional classroom teaching-learning process, but they can also be easily implemented into online learning environment. In this context, the paper is focused on the physics-related cognitive interest of primary-school students, then critical thinking of these students as well as mutual relationships between the levels of students' cognitive interest in physics and levels of their critical thinking. The main goal of the paper is to present the preliminary results from the running dissertation thesis research. The authors have designed and distributed a questionnaire form combined with a didactic test of critical thinking. The questionnaire is based on Lanina's methodology and serves to determine the current level of students' cognitive interest in curricular- as well as extracurricular- forms of physics education. Its other part, a physics test, has been created in order to identify students' abilities to apply critical thinking in problem solving physics tasks. Levels of critical thinking corresponds with levels of Kolláriková's model of critical thinking. The authors investigate possible corelations in the development of cognitive interest and critical thinking.