Innovation: Improvement Of Chemistry Education Students’ Critical Thinking And Communication Skills Through STEM-Based REAKSI Learning Model

Abstract

Learning materials that are macroscopic, sub-macroscopic, and symbolic are often problematic for students. To help students understand, critical thinking and communication skills in learning are required. As such, one of the needed learning models that is able to encourage students’ skills is a learning model based on the STEM approach. The related solution is the REAKSI learning model. REAKSI is an acronym for Formulation of the Problem (R), Exploration (E), Analysis (A), Classification (K), Synthetic (S), and Implementation (I). This model integrates the components of the STEM approach. The present study aims to examine the effectiveness of the REAKSI learning model to improve students' critical thinking and communication skills. The research type is a Lesson Study. The sample involved 37 chemistry students of Riau University, 20 students from the State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau, and 4 students from the Islamic University of Riau through a purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through the critical thinking skill test and communication observation using the Likert Scale questionnaire. The data analysis of the REAKSI learning model based on the STEM approach effectively increases the students’ critical thinking and communication skills with percentages of 90% and 89% with a high category. Critical thinking and communication skills, in addition, are related to each other with the Pearson correlation test result of 0.013 < 0.05. That effectiveness was obtained since the REAKSI learning model provided steps that led students to perpetrate their critical thinking and communication skills in learning.