<![CDATA[Higher order thinking skills are essential abilities that need to be optimized in history education because they help students critically analyze, evaluate, and interpret various historical events. However, history education currently focuses on low-order thinking skills, while students’ higher-order thinking skills have not yet developed optimally. This is evident when students are asked to express their opinions; some still rely on the teacher’s guidance and have not yet demonstrated independent thinking. Therefore, learning media that can enhance these skills are needed, one of which is a documentary film that presents historical events visually and contextually. Based on this, this study aims to determine the effect of documentary films on higher-order thinking skills. This study uses a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental method and a nonequivalent control group design. The research subjects consisted of 34 students in the experimental class and 36 students in the control class. The research instrument was a test. The instrument was tested for validity, reliability, difficulty level, and discriminative power. Data analysis techniques were tested using normality tests, homogeneity tests, n-gain scores, and hypothesis testing. The results showed that the average score of students in the experimental class increased from 22.17 on the pretest to 24.91 on the posttest, while that of the control class increased from 17.02 to 22.27. Although descriptively, the increase in scores in the control class was higher than in the experimental class, this was due to the high initial scores in the experimental class, which limited the potential for score improvement (ceiling effect). However, the results of the Independent Sample t-Test showed a Sig. (2-tailed) value of <0.001 (<0.05). Thus, this indicates that the use of documentary films has a significant effect on higher-order thinking skills.]]>
