The Impact of an Exploratory Approach in Teaching Mathematics to the Critical Thinking Skills of Junior High School Students

Abstract

The goal of this study is to evaluate the impact of an exploratory approach on the ability of Bengkulu City junior high school students to think. Experimental research with Posttest-Only Control Group Design is this type of research. The study sample includes 87 8th grade students in the second semester of the 2019/2020 Academic Year at SMPN 1, SMPN 11, and MTs Ja-Al Haq. On the basis of Kruskal Wallis H. Review, the asymp Sig is bigger than 0.05 at 0.583. Therefore, there is little differentiation in the critical thinking abilities of students, which are taught in high, middle, and low level schools using an exploratory approach to teaching mathematics. The average value of the critical reasoning ability of the student from each level of education is as follows: high level school is 53.77; middle school level is 53.45 and 47.63 is around the lower level. In the medium group, the vital potential of junior high school students in Bengkulu is included.