Improving elementary school’s critical thinking skills through three different learning media viewed from learning styles

Abstract

This research aims to analyze (1) the differences in critical thinking skills among students who were given three different PBL-assisted learning media; (2) the differences of critical thinking skills among visual and auditory students; and (3) the interaction between the three different learning media with learning styles on students’ critical thinking skills. This research is a quasi-experiment with a pretest-posttest non-equivalent control-group design. The population in this research is the fifth-grade students of the elementary school in Jebres Sub-district, Surakarta, Indonesia. The sampling technique used is cluster random sampling obtaining 96 students in three experimental classes at different schools. The data of critical thinking skills are gained from test scores. The data analysis technique used is descriptive quantitative statistics through ANCOVA test with the 3 x 2 factorial design. The results of the research revealed that there are different skills in critical thinking in different learning media. The highest skills in critical thinking are reached by students who were given differentiated problem-based learning (PBL) with multimedia in their learning. There are also differences in critical thinking skills between visual and auditory students.

Keywords

• Multimedia
• Learning Styles
• Problem-based Learning
• Critical-Thinking Skills