Improving Fifth-Grade Students' Mathematical Problem-Solving and Critical Thinking Skills Using Problem-Based Learning

Abstract

Although students' problem-solving and critical thinking skills have been set as the main goal of the mathematics subject, the results tend to be unsatisfactory. This study aims to improve students' mathematical problem-solving and critical thinking skills using problem-based learning (PBL). A quasi-experimental design was utilized in this study which involved 78 (31 males and 47 females) fifth-grade students as the sample. The students were divided into two groups, namely the experimental group (n = 39) and the control group (n = 39). This study was conducted in an Indonesian elementary school in its first semester of the 2019/2020 school year. The Problem-Solving Skills Test (PSST) and Critical Thinking Skills Test (CTST) were administered to obtain the data. One-Way MANOVA and ANOVA tests were used to analyze the data at a significance level of .05. The results showed that students in the experimental group had higher post-test scores compared to the control group in terms of mathematical problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Thus, it can be concluded that PBL effectively promoted fifth-grade students' problem-solving and critical thinking skills.