Abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide an overview of the critical thinking skills and tendencies of math students in junior high school in the cities of Makassar and Gowa in South Sulawesi. It discusses the differences in critical thinking abilities based on the students’ region of origin and gender and their parents’ occupation and income. The research was conducted from April to July 2016 with a sample of as many as 927 students from Class VII. The results showed that the critical thinking skills of math students consist of three categories: good (69.3%), very good (25.1%), and poor (5.6%). There was no difference between the critical thinking skills of students who came from villages compared to those who came from towns, but there were differences between male and female students’ critical thinking skills. Female students’ critical thinking skills ranked higher than those of the male students. The occupation and income of the students’ parents did not have a significant effect on their critical thinking skills.