<![CDATA[This study aimed to analyze the critical thinking skills of seventh-grade students after participating in Design Thinking–STEAM learning on the water cycle topic. The study employed a descriptive quantitative method involving 30 seventh-grade students from a public junior high school in Malang. Data were collected through a posttest consisting of three contextual essay questions developed based on the FRISCO framework: Focus, Reason, Inference, Situation, Clarity, and Overview. The results showed that students’ overall critical thinking skills achieved an average score of 69.49. The highest score was obtained in the Inference indicator (86.94), followed by Situation (86.67), Focus (86.11), and Reason (83.89). These findings indicated that students were generally able to identify problems, provide logical reasons, draw conclusions, and relate water cycle concepts to environmental issues. However, the Clarity (45.28) and Overview (28.06) indicators were relatively low, indicating that students still experienced difficulties in explaining their reasoning systematically and evaluating the suitability of proposed solutions. Design Thinking–STEAM learning supported critical thinking development through contextual problem-solving and prototype activities; however, discussion, presentation, reflection, and solution-evaluation activities need to be strengthened to improve students’ clarity and evaluative skills.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
