<![CDATA[Critical thinking is one of the essential competencies that elementary school students should develop to meet the demands of 21st-century learning. However, classroom observations at SD Negeri Ambit revealed that students' critical thinking skills remained low because learning activities were still teacher-centered and lacked engaging instructional media. This study aimed to determine the effect of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) model assisted by Smart Box media on students' critical thinking skills in cultural heritage learning. This study employed a quantitative approach using a Pre-Experimental Design with a One-Group Pretest–Posttest Design. The participants consisted of 20 fifth-grade students selected through saturated sampling. Data were collected using five validated and reliable essay questions and analyzed through the Shapiro–Wilk normality test and Paired Sample t-test. The results showed that the mean score increased from 33.5 on the pretest to 75.5 on the posttest. The hypothesis testing indicated a significance value of 0.000 (p < 0.05), demonstrating that the implementation of Problem-Based Learning assisted by Smart Box media significantly improved students' critical thinking skills. Therefore, this learning model can be considered an effective instructional alternative for improving critical thinking skills in elementary school I PAS learning.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
