The influence of STEM-based 7E learning cycle on students critical and creative thinking skills in physics

Abstract

Critical and creative thinking is important skills to students in the era of 21st century. This study aims to identify the effect of teaching approach called STEM-7E learning cycle on critical thinking skills and creative thinking skills. The study was carried out at two different schools in Indonesia. This study employed quantitative study using quasi experimental approach. The participants were divided into two groups which called experimental and control group. Two instrument were used in this study which were Critical Thinking Skills Test and Creative Thinking Skills Test. The Critical Thinking Test consists of three constructs which were interpretation, analysis and inference. The alpha Cronbach of critical thinking instrument is 937. The other instrument for this study is Creative Thinking Skills Test which consists of four construct; creative fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration. The alpha Cronbach’s creative thinking skill test is .803. Both study were analysed by using mean, t-test, ANCOVA, N-gain, and effect size. As a conclusion, this study shows that the use of STEM-7E learning cycle show significance differences in increasing student critical thinking skill. On the other hand, there was significance differences between STEM-7E learning cycle and 7E learning cycle in increasing students’ creative thinking.