Planting Ability to Critical Thinking Students of Primary Schools Through
the Problem Based Learning

Kurniasari Widiyaningrum1 , Edi Purwanta2

(1. Postgraduate Program, Primary Education, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesian

2. Faculty of Education, Yogyakarta State University, Indonesian)

Abstract: This study aims to foster the critical thinking character of elementary school students through Problem Based Learning model. This research is quasi experimental or Quasi Experiment research with nonequivalent design control design. The population of this study is the fourth grade students of elementary school. The sample of this research is fourth grade students onbasic school Tiyaran and Kedungsana. The results obtained from the provision of pretest and posttest to measure students’ critical thinking skills. The data of the research were analyzed using t-test with the help of SPSS. The results of this study obtained sig value 0.003 with an average value of 66.67 in the control class and 88.42 average value in the experimental class. So that the results obtained that: 1) there are differences in values obtained by students using conventional models using Problem Based Learning model, 2) students’ critical thinking ability can be improved by using Problem-Based Learning model.

Key words: problem based learning model, critical thinking