MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA SMP MELALUI PENDEKATAN MATEMATIKA REALISTIK

Abstract

Critical thinking skill in mathematics is one of the essential capabilities required by a student. It allows the students to reason and solve problems in everyday life. One relevant learning approach to cultivate the skill is realistic mathematics education approach. This study aimed to analyze the increase in critical thinking skills of students who learned using realistic mathematics education approach compared to students who were in conventional learning. This study also examined the interaction based on the level of students' prior knowledge. This study was a quasi-experimental study research design Pretest Posttest Control Design. The population of this research was all Year 10 classes at SMK Negeri 1 Meulaboh, and two classes were selected randomly as samples. Data analysis was performed using t-test and two-way ANOVA with a significance level of 0.05, both based on the whole student or based on prior knowledge of students. The results showed that the increase in critical thinking skills of the students taught by realistic mathematics education approach is better than their counterpart. The results also revealed that there was an interaction between realistic mathematics approach and the level of students' critical thinking skills.