Meedace: A 5E modified model to improve students' critical thinking skills

Introduction: Critical thinking skills are important competencies in the 21st century and support Indonesia's SDGs 2030, which emphasizes the importance of these skills to achieve sustainable development goals. The 5E instructional model, although widely applied, presents challenges for teachers with limited innovation capacity. To address this, the 5E model was modified into the MEEDACE model, which combines mind mapping strategies, inquiry-based approaches, real-life contextual problems, and project-based problem-solving. Methods: This study utilizes the ADDIE development model to design and evaluate the effectiveness of the MEEDA learning model. The resulting MEEDACE instructional syntax consists of seven stages: (1) Mind Mapping, (2) Exploration, (3) Explanation, (4) Discovery, (5) Application, (6) Communication, and (7) Evaluation.Results: ANCOVA test results showed a significance value of 0.000 (< 0.05), indicating a significant difference in students' critical thinking skills between classes using the MEEDACE model and those using the control model. The corrected average score was 79.926 for MEEDACE, 72.284 for the 5E model, and 68.140 for the conventional model.Discussion: These findings show that the MEEDACE model effectively improves students' critical thinking skills by integrating innovative and contextual learning strategies that fit the demands of modern education.Conclusions: The MEEDACE learning model significantly improved critical thinking skills compared to the 5E and conventional models. The integration of mind mapping, exploration, and real-world problem-solving fosters deeper understanding and student engagement.