Improving Students' Critical Thinking Skills through an Ethnomathematically Controversial Problem-Based Multimodal Approach

Abstract

Critical thinking ability is a very important basic ability in learning mathematics. In the era of technological advances and digitalization, a comprehensive learning approach is needed that accommodates critical thinking skills. The controversial problem-based multimodal approach with ethnomathematics is seen as being able to improve this ability. This can be seen from the characteristics of the learning model with the Ethnomathematically Controversial Problem-Based Multimodal approach that accommodates visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles. However, there is no empirical evidence that the combination of that approach and ethnomathematics (Balinese culture) in digital learning can improve students' critical thinking skills. This study aims to comprehend the impact of digital learning with a controversial problem-based multimodal approach, incorporating Meru and Jejaitan Bali ethnomathematics on students' critical thinking skills. Quasi-experimental research uses a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) applied to measure students' initial abilities, namely students with low, medium, and high initial abilities. The instrument used in this research is a test of critical thinking skills which contains controversial issues with ethnomathematical nuances in the cases of the sacred building of Meru. The population consists of 202 grade IX students, with 48 in the experimental group and 52 in the control group. The ANOVA test results demonstrated that using this approach was effective in improving students' critical thinking skills. (This can be seen from the value of sig. 0.00 < =0.05 which means that there is a difference in students' critical thinking skills between the experimental class and the control class). According to the t-test results, students in the experimental group had significantly higher critical thinking skills than students in the control group. Tukey's test shows that critical thinking ability varies depending on the student's beginning ability. In conclusion, this combination is effective in improving students' critical thinking skills, especially on the topic of geometry.