Fostering Students' Critical Thinking through ADI-SSI Learning Model: A Study in Plant Physiology Learning

Abstract

The Industrial Revolution 4.0 era demands higher education to produce graduates who not only master knowledge but also have critical thinking skills. However, observations of Biology Education students show that the ability to think critically is still low, especially in associating the concept of plant physiology with social and environmental issues. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of the Argument-Driven Inquiry model integrated with Socio-Scientific Issues (ADI-SSI) in improving students' critical thinking skills in the Plant Physiology course. This study is a quasi-experiment with a non-equivalent pre-test and post-test experimental group design. The research sample is a fourth-semester student of the Biology Education Study Program, University of Bengkulu who was selected based on purposive sampling techniques. Students' critical thinking skills are measured using an instrument test in the form of a description prepared based on FRISCO indicators (focus, reason, inference, situation, clarity, overview). Data were analyzed using ANCOVA's Quade's Rank test, and the magnitude of influence was analyzed using effect size for the F (Eta Squared) test. The results showed a significant difference in students' critical thinking skills between the control class and the experimental class [F(1.68)=76.332; p<0.001] with a large effect size (η²=0.53). The highest increase occurred in the focus, situation, clarity, and overview indicators. These findings show that the integration of scientific inquiry with socioscientific issues is able to stimulate students to think logically, evaluate evidence objectively, and consider social and ethical dimensions in scientific argumentation. The ADI-SSI model has proven to be effective in fostering critical thinking skills while strengthening the relevance of biology learning to global challenges.