Developing an EWB-Assisted Contextual Inquiry Physics Module to Enhance Students’ Critical Thinking Skills and Digital Literacy

Abstract

This study aims to develop a physics learning module based on a contextual inquiry approach assisted by Electronics Workbench (EWB) software for teaching organ pipe topics, evaluate its feasibility based on expert validation, assess its practicality based on teacher and student responses, and examine its potential to improve students’ critical thinking skills and digital literacy. The study employed a Research and Development (R&D) approach using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation) model. The research participants included material and media experts as validators and 33 Grade 11 students from SMA Negeri 2 Gerung as module users. Data were collected through expert validation sheets, teacher and student response questionnaires, and pretest-posttest instruments measuring students’ critical thinking skills and digital literacy. The feasibility assessment yielded an average score of 85.63%, categorized as very valid. The module was also considered highly practical based on teacher and student responses, with average scores of 92.5% and 87.5%, respectively. The average critical thinking score increased from 61.2 to 84.5, while the average digital literacy score increased from 65.4 to 86.7. The mean N-gain score was 0.55, indicating a moderate level of improvement. A paired-samples t-test showed a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores (p < .001), with a large effect size (Cohen’s dz = 3.38). These findings indicate that the developed module is feasible and practical and provides preliminary evidence of its potential to improve students’ critical thinking skills and digital literacy. However, because the effectiveness test employed a one-group pretest-posttest design without a control group, the findings should be interpreted cautiously and confirmed through controlled experimental studies.