The effectiveness of STEM approach on students’ critical thinking ability in the topic of fluid statics

Critical thinking is a skill which ranks first in STEM activity in the 21st century learning, whereas research about the effectiveness of STEM approach implementation to increase students’ critical thinking ability (CTA) is still limited. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness between 7E LC and STEM-Based 7E LC models on increasing students’ CTA in the material of Fluid Statics with a quasi-experiment research and Pre- and Post-test Design. The subject of the research was senior high school students in Malang, Indonesia, which was distributed in Experiment (STEM-LC) and Comparison (LC) classes. The Experiment class planned, made, and tested 2 engineering products, namely a miniature of hydraulic lift and submarine. Critical Thinking Skills Test instrument was used with the alpha Cronbach reliability of 0.94. The data was analyzed using Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, N-gain, Mann-Whitney U test, ANCOVA, and effect size. This research found that both models were effective in building students’ CTA. Furthermore, the enhancement in students’ skill was affected by the different initial state and the different treatment of learning. However, both are independent of each other. STEM-LC model resulted in significantly better CTA in students than LC model. However, STEM-LC model was more effective than LC. The field practice of the STEM-LC method had a medium impact than the LC method in increasing students’ ability.