THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL INTERACTIVE BOARD MEDIA ON CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS OF SIXTH GRADE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of using a Digital Interactive Board (DIB) to improve the critical thinking skills of sixth-grade elementary school students. Critical thinking skills are an essential element of 21st-century knowledge that must be instilled from the elementary education level. The method used in this research was a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent control group design. The sample of this study was divided into two groups, where the control group consisted of 20 students using conventional methods and the experimental group consisted of 20 students assisted by the DIB. Interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference were the four critical thinking indicators used for data collection in the form of essay tests. To analyze the data, this study used an independent t-test and N-Gain calculation. The research findings revealed that the posttest results of the experimental group, which obtained an average score of 81.50, were significantly superior to the control group, which obtained 57.75. This difference was statistically significant (p = 0.000 < 0.05) with a Cohen's d effect size of 1.84, falling into the very large category. The control group, which obtained an N-Gain of 0.21 (low category), was far exceeded by the experimental group's N-Gain value, which reached 0.64 (medium category). The most prominent improvement was recorded in the analysis indicator with an N-Gain value of 0.71 and the evaluation indicator at 0.70. The researcher concluded that the Digital Interactive Board has proven effective in improving elementary school students' critical thinking skills, particularly in the aspects of analysis and evaluation. Therefore, it is recommended that schools integrate continuous pedagogical training to optimize the use of multi-touch features and dynamic visualization in the learning process.