THE EFFECT OF BLENDED LEARNING MODEL TO CRITICAL THINKING SKILL STUDENTS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effect of applying blended learning in improving students' critical thinking skills. This type of research is a quasi-experiment design of two groups pre-test and post-test. The study population was all students of class XI IPA SMA Negeri 5 Medan A.Y. 2019/2020 consisting of 9 classes. The research sample was taken by cluster random sampling technique consisting of two classes, namely XI IPA 2 as an experiment class  and  XI IPA 9 as a control class, each class consist with 34 students . This research instrument uses essay test consisting of 10 questions that measure critical thinking. The research hypothesis was tested using the t-test. The results of data analysis obtained the average value of pretest critical thinking skills of the experiment class was 50.44 and  the control class was 47.14, it means the initial ability of students is same. The average posttest critical thinking skills of the experiment class was 85.05 and the control class was 68.05. Based on t-test can be concluded there is an effect of blended learning on students’ critical thinking skills. The results of the N-gain critical thinking skills test showed an increase in the critical thinking of the experiment class 71% and the control class 38%. The result of the manova test from the posstest data show that there is a significant difference in sritical thinking skills with conventional learning, in other words, the blended learning model is better at improving students’ critical thinking skills than conventional learning.

Keywords: blended learning, critical thinking skill, optical instrument