Meta-Analysis of the Effect of STEM Approach on Students' Creative and Critical Thinking Skills in Physics Learning in Senior High School

Abstract

This research aims to determine the effect of the STEM approach on the creative and critical thinking skills of high school students in learning physics. This research uses meta-analysis. The data in this research is secondary data from the results of research that have been investigated by other researchers. The data collection technique is using a literature study by looking for articles related to STEM learning. Sampling was carried out by purposive sampling technique. The sources of the research are 20 articles with national and international accreditation with criteria according to the problem formulation. This meta-analysis uses Cohen's d. effect size calculation method. The results obtained are first, based on the integrated learning model of the STEM approach that the STEM approach without the integrated model obtains the highest average effect value with an average effect of 2.93. Second, based on the learning material, the highest average value of the effect is on the dynamic electric material and Newton's law of gravity. Third, the application of the STEM approach to creative and critical thinking skills has an average effect of 2.66 for critical thinking skills, while creative thinking skills have an average effect of 1.47. Thus the STEM approach affects improving students' creative and critical thinking skills through integration with high school physics learning models and materials.

STEM-Based Scientific Learning and Its Impact on Students' Critical and Creative Thinking Skills: An Empirical Study

“…Conversely, the fewer university teachers use STEM-based learning approaches, the less significant the improvement in students' creative thinking skills will be. This finding is in line with the research findings of Aguilera and Ortis-Revilla (2021), Amiruddin et al (2019), Eroğlu and Bektaş (2022), Hebebci (2022), Iskandar et al (2020), Izzah et al (2023, Kencana et al (2020), Preca et al (2023), Sastra et al (2022), and Sutaphan and Yuenyong's (2023), that incorporating STEM education in the classroom lead to significant improvements in students' creative thinking skills. Since creative thinking skills are classified as both 21st-century learning skills and higher-order thinking skills, this finding is also in line with Ichsan et al's (2023), Ilma et al's (2023), Martawijaya et al's (2023), Suradika et al's (2023), and Yerimadesi et al's (2023 research findings that the utilization of STEM-based scientific learning affect the students' higher order thinking skills significantly.…”