Stem-inquiry brainstorming: Critical and creative thinking skills in static fluid material

Abstract

The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) approach has become an interesting research object. Several studies have proven that the STEM approach has overcome various learning problems. It involves many teaching and learning aspects, either the cognitive, affective, or psychomotor domains, positively affecting the students' learning outcomes. This study aimed to describe the effect of the STEM approach with the Brainstorming method on critical thinking and creative thinking skills of students in physics learning. This study employed quasi-experimental research with a non-equivalent control group design. The sampling was done through the simple random sampling technique with a total sample of 60 high school students. The instrument used in this study was an essay test instrument to measure critical thinking and creative thinking skills. The Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used as the research hypothesis testing technique. The results showed that the significance score of critical thinking skills was 0.001, and the significance score of creative thinking skills was 0.019. So, it can be concluded that the application of the STEM approach with the Brainstorming method is effective in improving students' critical thinking and creative thinking skills in learning physics, both through multivariate tests and separate tests.