<![CDATA[Students’ persistently low critical thinking skills in chemistry are particularly consequential for salt hydrolysis, which requires conceptual analysis, scientific reasoning, and logical problem-solving. This study examined the effectiveness of the Prediction, Observation, Explanation, Elaboration, Write, and Evaluation (POE2WE) learning model in improving Grade XI students’ critical thinking skills at SMAN 1 Koto Kampar Hulu. An experimental method with a randomized control group pretest–posttest design was employed. The sample comprised 60 students: 30 students from Class XI.3 as the experimental group and 30 from Class XI.4 as the control group. The experimental group received instruction through the POE2WE model, whereas the control group was taught using a deep learning approach. Data were collected using pretest and posttest measures of critical thinking skills and analyzed through normality and homogeneity tests, gain analysis, and a t-test. The experimental group achieved a higher mean score improvement than the control group (44.17 vs. 37.67). The t-test yielded a calculated value of 2.564, exceeding the critical value of 2.001 at α = .05. Moreover, the experimental group obtained an N-gain of 0.82, categorized as high, whereas the control group achieved an N-gain of 0.61, categorized as moderate. These findings demonstrate that the POE2WE model effectively improves students’ critical thinking skills in learning salt hydrolysis. The improvement was supported by students’ active engagement throughout the predicting, observing, explaining, elaborating, writing, and evaluating stages. This study provides empirical support for adopting POE2WE as an instructional model to strengthen critical thinking in chemistry education.]]>
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