Improving students' critical thinking skills use model learning STEM material cycle water in fifth grade elementary school

Abstract

Education in the 21st century must focus more on student-centered learning, helping students acquire essential skills and guiding them through the learning process. One crucial skill students need to develop is the ability to be active learners. Critical thinking skills enable students to solve problems and address issues by seeking information from various sources. One effective learning model that can enhance students' critical thinking skills is the STEM learning model. This research aims to evaluate the effect of implementing the STEM learning model on improving the critical thinking skills of fifth-grade students with respect to the water cycle material. A mixed-methods approach with an explanatory sequential design was employed for this study. The subjects were 30 fifth-grade students from Giriwangi State Elementary School. The research results revealed that the average pretest score of the students before the implementation of the STEM learning model was 39.00. After applying the STEM learning model to the water cycle material, students showed significant improvement, achieving an average posttest score of 73.66.