Empowering Young Minds: The Effectiveness of Local Wisdom-based Movable Books in Developing Critical Thinking

Primary school children are often unfamiliar with the local wisdom of their area, which can indirectly hinder their critical understanding of their environment. Integrating local wisdom into educational materials may be valuable in fostering critical thinking skills. This quasi-experimental study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of local wisdom-based movable book teaching materials in enhancing the critical thinking skills of primary school students. The study involved 83 fourth-grade students and three teachers from three primary schools in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia. The Students’ Critical Thinking Skills Test was employed as the primary instrument. The data analysis utilized n-gain scores to assess the impact of the treatment. The findings indicate that the use of movable book materials based on local wisdom significantly improves the critical thinking skills of primary school students, with a moderate level of effectiveness.