Critical Thinking Achievement Research Articles

Analysis of the Critical Thinking Initial Ability about Static Fluid Material in Class XI of SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta

This research aims to describe the initial ability of critical thinking, of high school students in Surakarta on static fluid. This study is part of the learning tools development study to improve critical thinking ability. The critical thinking skills test is compiled into ten questions. The analyzed critical thinking skills are students' critical thinking abilities before a model is applied that is expected to develop a student's critical thinking skills. This research includes descriptive research. The subjects of this study were 35 students of Class XI in SMA Negeri 7 Surakarta. The data collection methods used are test methods. Data analysis techniques use quantitative descriptive analysis. The results showed that the achievement of critical thinking in the analysis aspect with sub-skills of detecting arguments and analyzing arguments was 41,75%. The inference aspect with sub-skills of making a logical conclusion was 29,25%. The interpretation aspect with sub-skills of classifying the meaning was 44,1 %. The explanation aspect with sub-skills of stating re-sults, justifying procedures, and presenting arguments was 57,7%. And the evaluation aspect with sub-skills of assess the credibility and assess the quality of arguments was 24,65%. These results show that students' critical thinking skills are still low, especially in evaluation aspects.

Innovation in journalism educational programmes at university. A systematic review of educational experiences at Spanish universities

The journalism being taught at universities in Spain is undergoing intensive changes as a result of the dual pressure exerted by the impact of digitisation in two specific aspects. The first is the journalistic system itself (business models, professional routines, information consumption, etc.). The second aspect involves the teaching guidelines established as a result of the implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). Focusing on the latter issue, the current debate regarding the orientation of journalistic education is calling for this aspect not to be relegated or limited to training in technical skills, which are constantly being renewed by technological developments of the digital environment. On the contrary, journalism education must also take into account other skills that foster the achievement of critical thinking, which is fundamental for the exercise of the journalistic profession. However, in the face of an increasingly digitised, competitive labour market, journalism studies and their training programmes also have a duty to provide the skills and competencies demanded by this market. In this paper, we have conducted a systematic review of some of the experiences of innovative teaching that have been successfully carried out in Journalism degrees taught in Spain for this purpose (service-learning, project-based learning, content curation, and edublogs, among others). These experiences reflect the involvement of university professors in providing comprehensive education for future journalists, with a strong emphasis on the intensive use of the digital resources currently available.

Discussion task model in EFL classroom: EFL learners’ perception, oral proficiency, and critical thinking achievements

This research was aimed to investigate the implementation of discussion task model toward the EFL learners’ oral proficiency achievement (OPA) and critical thinking achievement (CTA). Non-equivalent, pre-test, post-test control group design of comparison group design has been employed in this research. Oral proficiency rubric, critical thinking rubric, and a set of the questionnaire were used to assess the EFL learners’ OPA and CTA. The research findings showed that (1) the OPA and CTA levels in the experimental group were in the good category in which it was much better than that in the control group. (2) Statistically, the discussion task model gave a significant improvement and a significant mean difference between the EFL learners’ oral proficiency and critical thinking achievements after being taught by using discussion task model and those who were not. (3) There was a significant contribution to the aspect of oral proficiency and aspect of critical thinking toward the total of oral proficiency and total of critical thinking achievements where the highest contribution in the aspect of OPA and CTA was fluency and context. (4) The EFL learners gave positive perception of the discussion task model instruction in EFL classroom. In concluding, using discussion task model in EFL classroom significantly improved the EFL learners’ oral proficiency and critical thinking achievements. Keywords: discussion task model, EFL learners’ perception, oral proficiency, critical thinking. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15823/p.2019.133.3

EFEKTIVITAS MODEL PEMBELAJARAN PROBLEM SOLVING DAN GROUP INVESTIGATIONTERHADAP PENINGKATAN KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA KELAS 4 SD DALAM PELAJARAN MATEMATIKA

ABSTRACTThis study aims to determine the differences in the effectiveness of the Problem Solving and Group Investigation learning models towards the achievement of critical thinking in Mathematics subjects in grade IV elementary school. The subjects of this study were SDN Dukuh 05 with 21 students as the experimental class I and SDN Dukuh 02 with 30 students as experiments II. This type of research uses quasi-experimental. Before doing the research, a prerequisite test was conducted. The prerequisite test in this study shows that both experimental classes are homogeneous and normally distributed. The Independent Sample Test t test shows t count> t table which is 3,970 > 3,1824 and significant with 0,000 < 0.05 which means H0 is rejected and Ha is accepted. For the N-Gain score analysis that there is an increase after applying the Problem Solving model of 0.47, while after applying the Group Investigation model it is 0.36. This shows that there is a significant difference in effectiveness. And it can be concluded that the Problem Solving learning model is more effective than the Group Investigation learning model for improving critical thinking skills of fourth grade students. Keywords: Problem Solving, Group Investigation, Critical Thinking

STUDENT-CENTRED LEARNING AND TEACHING: THEORETICAL VERSUS PRACTICAL APPROACH

Student-centred learning and teaching emphasises the way in which learning involves the students creating concepts or constructs to achieve short-term mastery but long-term retention, in-depth understanding of course material, achievement of critical thinking, creative problem-solving skills, development of a positive approach, and a level of confidence in their knowledge and skills. This study investigates both theoretical and practical approaches to student-centred learning and teaching, based on the data from students (N=35) and designed to improve student motivation considering three areas: face-to-face sessions, technology and assessments. Potential practices and theories are proposed based on the results of students’ feedback from staff-student liaison meetings, with undergraduate and postgraduate representatives. Through the qualitative data analysis, practical suggestions and implications for educators to improve student-focused learning and teaching methods arise. In particular, the importance of educational technology and multiple assessment methods provides the pedagogical shift from the tutor’s to the student’s perspective in order to enhance tangible student-centred tactics. Effective pedagogical suggestions from three different angles provide guidance for educators on how to adapt the concepts to real teaching experience. Article visualizations: