Effect of Case Study and Concept Map on Critical Thinking Skills and Dispositions in Indonesian College Students

It has been long pointed that Indonesian education system embraces active learning to enhance critical thinking. However, active learning techniques are not yet optimally introduced in Indonesian education settings. Studies have shown case studies combined with the concept map method improving students’ critical thinking. However, there is a lack of evidence related to this method in the Indonesian education system. The presented study examined the effect of a case study combined with the concept map on improving critical thinking skills in Indonesian first-year college students. Three groups attended classes with the same class objectives and contents, consisting of eight weekly meetings. The only difference among the groups was the educational strategy; case study combined with concept map (CSCM), case study alone (CS), and traditional lecture style with no specific active learning techniques (Control). Results indicated that the CSCM method is most effective in improving critical thinking skills. Although CSCM was also most effective on improving critical thinking disposition, differences among groups were not statistically significant