Problem-Based Learning Enhanced by Electronic Textbooks: The Effects on Students' Critical Thinking Abilities

This study's purpose is to determine the influence of the problem-based learning model, which is encouraged by electronic textbooks, on students' critical thinking skills. A control group design consisting of a pretest and posttest was used in this quasi-experimental study. The population sample of this research consisted of 270 prospective elementary school teacher students. The cluster random sampling technique was employed to obtain a sample of 60 students, which was divided into two classes. In this study, both the pretest and the posttest included a multiple-choice exam measuring participants' critical thinking abilities. A parametric statistical test was implemented for hypothesis testing, specifically the independent sample test, and the normalized gain test was implemented to determine the extent to which students' critical thinking abilities were impacted by problem-based learning facilitated by electronic textbooks.  The findings indicated that the data were homogeneous and normal. The hypothesis test demonstrated that the t-count (2.656) surpassed the t-table value (1.671), signifying a statistically significant difference in the means of the experimental and control groups.  This implies that the critical thinking abilities of students are influenced by the implementation of problem-based learning, which is facilitated by electronic textbooks.  Subsequently, the experimental class's average N-Gain test result was 0.34, which is classified as moderate. This suggests that problem-based learning, which is encouraged by electronic textbooks, has a moderate impact on the critical thinking skills of students.