CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS ENHANCEMENT THROUGH REFLECTIVE JOURNAL OF CIVICS 5th GRADERS IN SDN NGENEP 5

Abstract

Civics education in elementary school has been focusing on the cognitive, where every student is always measured by the test. Affective abilities of students is the ultimate goal in teaching civics is often overlooked. Reflective journal writing required by students, for knowing the way of thinking from early until the end of learning. The way student thinking is needed to determine the extent of students' ability to construct knowledge. Objectives achieved in the study are First, to describe the application of reflective journals on the Civics 5 th graders SDN Ngenep 5, Second, to determine the application of reflective journal can improve critical thinking skills on subjects Civic Education 5 th graders SDN Ngenep 5. This study uses classroom action research. This research subject 5 th graders is 24 students SDN Ngenep 5. Data collection techniques in this research is observation, interview, documentation, field notes and tests. The results show an increase in the students' critical thinking phase, namely Focus, Reason, Inference, Situation, Clarity, and Overview using reflective journal . Suggestions in this research are: 1. Learning time management need to be considered in the use of reflective journal, 2. Teachers should use a reflective journal to improve students' critical thinking skills, 3. other researchers can develop a reflective journal research with emphasis on self-assessment because in this study have not been seen clearly.