Silvya Isra, Muhammad Syukri, Saminan Saminan, Siti Maghfirah, Abdul Hamid

ENHANCING CRITICAL THINKING SKILL THROUGH STEM E-LKPD ASSISTED BY LIVEWORKSHEETS ON ADVANCED CLARIFICATION INDICATORS

Introduction

Enhancing critical thinking skill through stem e-lkpd assisted by liveworksheets on advanced clarification indicators. Enhance critical thinking in physics using STEM E-LKPD assisted by Liveworksheets. This study shows a significant improvement in students' advanced clarification skills.

Abstract

Students' ability to think critically, particularly in terms of providing advanced clarification, is still relatively low. Therefore, innovative learning media is needed to encourage the development of these skills. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of STEM-based Student Worksheets (LKPD) assisted by liveworksheets in improving students' critical thinking skills in physics learning. These LKPD are designed by integrating the Engineering Design Process (EDP) stages of the STEM approach. The study was conducted using a quantitative approach with a one-group pretest-posttest pre-experimental design. The research subjects consisted of 33 students from class X 1 of SMA Negeri 5 Banda Aceh, selected through purposive sampling. The research instrument was an essay question to measure students' critical thinking skills, analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, N-Gain test, and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. The analysis results showed a significant increase after the intervention, with an average N-Gain of 0.94, which falls into the high category, and a significance value of 0.000 (<0.05). These findings indicate that the use of STEM-based E-LKPD integrated with liveworksheet is an effective and contextual learning strategy in developing students' critical thinking skills.

Review

This study presents an interesting and timely exploration into enhancing students' critical thinking skills, particularly in advanced clarification, through the innovative integration of STEM-based E-LKPD assisted by Liveworksheets within physics education. The identified problem of low critical thinking aligns with a significant educational challenge, and the proposed solution leverages modern digital learning tools and the Engineering Design Process. The quantitative pretest-posttest design, supported by a strong N-Gain score of 0.94 and significant statistical results, provides compelling initial evidence suggesting the intervention's positive impact. The authors successfully highlight a contextual and engaging strategy that holds considerable promise for fostering higher-order thinking skills. Despite the encouraging findings, several methodological limitations warrant consideration. The primary concern lies with the one-group pretest-posttest pre-experimental design, which, without a control group, makes it challenging to definitively attribute the observed gains solely to the intervention. Factors such as maturation, historical events, or the Hawthorne effect could also contribute to the improvement, thus weakening the claim of causality. Furthermore, the use of purposive sampling from a single class in one school limits the generalizability of the findings to a broader student population. The abstract also lacks crucial details regarding the validity and reliability of the "essay question" used to measure critical thinking skills, or the scoring rubric applied, which are fundamental for establishing the rigor and objectivity of the assessment. In summary, this paper offers a valuable preliminary investigation into an innovative and potentially effective approach to cultivating critical thinking skills through digital and STEM-integrated learning environments. The strong quantitative indicators of improvement are certainly promising and underscore the potential of such pedagogical tools. However, to advance these preliminary findings into more robust and generalizable conclusions, future research should endeavor to employ more rigorous experimental designs, ideally incorporating a control group and a more representative sampling strategy. Providing comprehensive details on instrument validation and elaborating on the specific design and implementation of the E-LKPD would also significantly strengthen the academic contribution and replicability of this work.

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