Efektivitas Problem Based Learning pada Materi Salat Terhadap Kemampuan Berpikir Kritis Peserta Didik

Abstract

This study is driven by the rapid changes in various aspects of human life, especially in science and technology, which demand 21st-century learning skills known as 4C: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. However, learning activities at SMPN 1 Warungasem are still dominated by teacher-centered approaches that emphasize material comprehension through less optimal teaching models. As a result, students tend to be passive and show limited critical thinking skills. To address this issue, the research aims to examine the effectiveness of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model in teaching prayer (shalat) material to enhance students’ critical thinking abilities and to compare its impact with the Expository model. This research employed a true experimental design with seventh-grade students at SMPN 1 Warungasem as the population. Through simple random sampling, class VII G was assigned as the experimental group receiving PBL, while class VII D served as the control group taught with the Expository model. Data were analyzed using a one-sample t-test. The findings reveal that the significance value obtained (0.359 > 0.05) supports the acceptance of H₀, indicating that the proportion of students whose scores met the minimum mastery criteria (KKM) using PBL was ≥ 85%. Further analysis shows that 90% of students taught with PBL achieved classical mastery in critical thinking, compared to only 60% of those taught with the Expository model. Thus, the PBL approach enhanced students’ critical thinking skills by 30% more than the Expository method. This demonstrates that PBL is an effective instructional model to strengthen students’ higher order thinking in Islamic education learning contexts.