Investigative Thinking Skills and Their Relationship to Awareness of Contemporary Jurisprudential Issues among Intermediate Female Students

The current study sought to assess the level of investigative thinking skills and awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues among a sample of third-grade intermediate female students, and to determine the relationship of these skills to awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues. The random sample of the study consisted of 361 female students selected from all intermediate schools in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. For data collection purposes, an Investigative thinking skills test was developed and used. It includes five skills: deduction, classification, reasoning, interpretation, and problem-solving; also, an awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues scale was also developed, which includes three dimensions: awareness of the cognitive processes associated with contemporary jurisprudential issues, awareness of the importance of contemporary jurisprudential issues and their study, and awareness of research and investigation into contemporary jurisprudential issues. The study used a descriptive correlational analysis approach using means, standard deviations, percentages, and ranks, and Correlation coefficient values were calculated using Pearson’s linear correlation coefficient. Findings revealed that students possessed an average level of investigative thinking skills and awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues. The overall level of investigative thinking skills was average, with a mean and standard deviation of (M = 12.90, SD = 4.17). The overall level of awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues was moderate, with a mean and standard deviation (M = 108.85, SD = 15.84). All correlations among the dimensions of investigative thinking skills and awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues were positively and statistically significant at the significance level of (0.05-0.01). In light of these results, the study presented a set of recommendations, including Urging those developing jurisprudence courses to design educational experiences and teaching activities that develop investigative jurisprudential thinking skills and enhance awareness of contemporary jurisprudential issues among female students.