The Impact of Digital Literacy Integration on Critical Thinking Skills in Secondary School Students: A Quasi-Experimental Study
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Abstract
The rapid digitalization of education demands the integration of digital literacy into instruction, yet empirical evidence on its effect on higher-order thinking in Indonesian secondary schools remains scarce. This quasi-experimental study examined the impact of systematic digital literacy integration on students’ critical thinking skills. A total of 128 eleventh-grade students from two public senior high schools in West Sumatra participated, assigned to an experimental group (n=64) receiving technology-enhanced, inquiry-based learning with embedded digital literacy activities and a control group (n=64) following conventional instruction. Critical thinking was measured using an adapted Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X before and after a 10-week intervention. Analysis of covariance, controlling for pretest scores and prior digital access, revealed a significant large effect of the intervention (F(1,124)=127.84, p<.001, partial η²=.508). The experimental group’s adjusted posttest mean (M=63.28, SE=0.61) substantially exceeded that of the control group (M=52.14, SE=0.61). Subscale analysis indicated significant improvements in induction, deduction, evaluation, and inference. Effect sizes ranged from Cohen’s d=1.42 for the total score to d=0.94 for evaluation. These findings demonstrate that deliberate integration of digital literacy can robustly enhance secondary students’ critical thinking, offering a scalable, evidence-based model for 21st-century curriculum reform in Indonesia
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