Mathematics Practicum-Based Learning to Improve Critical Thinking Skills for Fourth Grade Students at Madrasah

get a very good scores. It indicates that students' thinking ability is categorized as very high. The model's goodness shows the coefficient of determination (R-Square) of 0.437% or 43.7% of critical thinking variables explained by the variable using mathematics-based learning methods. Another variable explains the remaining 55.3%. It shows that applying practical learning methods is suitable in fourth-grade Madrasah Ibtidaiyah.


INTRODUCTION
In essence, education is a process of humanization (humanizing humans) which implies that without education, humans will not become humans in the true sense (Saadah & Isnaeni, 2020;Tungkasamit, 2019). The problem of education is very important in human life; even the life of a nation and state will be determined by the progress of education in the country itself. No nation can build and can also achieve progress without being based on education (Astrilova, 2020;Tungkasamit, 2019). Learning activities transform educational messages through learning materials from learning resources to learners. In learning, there is a communication process to convey messages from teachers to students with the aim that messages can be well received and affect understanding and changes in behavior (Dwijayanti et al., 2020;Huang et al., 2017). Thus the success of learning is highly dependent on the effectiveness of the communication process during the learning. Teachers in the current era of information and communication technology are not just teaching (transfer of knowledge) but must be learning managers, which means teachers are expected to be able to create learning conditions that challenge student creativity and activity, motivate students, use multimedia, multi-methods, and multi-sources, so that achieve the expected learning objectives. Teacher competencies include pedagogical, personality, social, and professional competencies obtained through professional education (Ari Pertiwi, 2018;Immah, F., Sukidin, S., & Kartini, 2020).
However, the facts in the field show that few elementary school teachers still facilitate students to think critically in mathematics. It can be seen from the low achievement of Indonesian students in the international world, according to the data from the TIMMS and PISA studies which show that the ability of Indonesian junior high school students, especially in mathematics, is still below international standards. The latest TIMMS 2011 results put Indonesia in 38th place out of 42 countries, and the latest PISA 2012 results are even more concerning. Indonesia is in 64th rank out of 65 countries. This is similar to the findings of Elder and Paul in Suwarma, the director of the Foundation For Critical Thinking, that at least elementary school students are taught how to analyze. Naturally, a person's life is always changing, so he needs provisions to adapt to new situations. This provision is in the form of basic abilities to analyze different points of view, recognize inconsistencies, analyze various information choices, and make informed choices based on accurate information. Facilitating someone to get used to critical thinking can reduce biased, changeable, partial, uninformative thinking or which is prejudice.
Efforts to facilitate students' critical thinking skills are very important, considering that some research results still indicate Indonesian students' low critical thinking skills (Jawadiyah, 2021;Polat & Aydın, 2020;Silberman et al., 2021). Not many teachers try to create a conducive learning environment to improve mathematical critical thinking skills in the learning process. It can be seen when the teacher explains the material that has been prepared. The teacher gives practice questions that are routine and procedural. Students only record or copy the material and tend to memorize formulas or mathematical rules with a meaningless understanding (Dwijayanti et al., 2020;Wu & Wu, 2020). This condition reflects a mathematics learning process that is not student-centered and does not facilitate mathematical thinking skills. One method that a teacher can apply is the practicum learning method. The practicum learning method is a problem-solving process through variable manipulation activities and observations (Khairunnufus et al., 2019;Samsu et al., 2020). Practicum is one of the learner-centered teachings that describes teaching strategies where the teacher facilitates rather than direct teaching. In student-centered teaching strategies, the teacher focuses more on involvement, initiative, and learners' social interaction.
Previous findings stated that practicum's effect on the results of Arthropod material for junior high school students (Siagian, 2021). There is a significant positive effect of the simple practicum method on the compound polarity material on students' interest in learning (Fitri et al., 2021). Through the practicum, students can also learn science and direct observation of scientific phenomena and processes, practice scientific thinking skills, instill and develop scientific attitudes, find and solve various new problems through scientific methods, and develop through practical activities. Based on these problems, the purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of the Mathematics practicum-based learning method on the critical thinking skills of fourth graders at MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Kota Cihami.

METHOD
This type of research is causality research. The causality method is research to determine whether there is a consequence of something imposed on the subject under investigation (Arikunto, 2013). The population is a generalization area consisting of objects or subjects with certain qualities and characteristics determined by the author to be studied, and then conclusions are drawn (Sugiyono, 2013). The population of this study was the fourth-grade students of the MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Kota Cihami, amounting to 32 students. Data collection techniques are the most important part of a research process that is useful for obtaining data needed in a study. To obtain data on mathematics practicum-based learning and critical thinking skills of fourth-grade students of the MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Kota Cihami in the 2020/2021 academic year, data collection steps were carried out. This research is quantitative, so the data sought is quantitative data or data measured by numbers. Data collection techniques carried out by researchers in this study were tests and questionnaires. The test determines student learning outcomes through oral, Muhamad Anugrah / Mathematics Practicum-Based Learning to Improve Critical Thinking Skills for Fourth Grade Students at Madrasah Ibtidaiyah written, or deed tests. This study prepared a teacher-made test with the researcher referring to the student's book. The test aims to get answers to be used as a numerical score determination. After treatment, the test was given at the end of the meeting using audio-visual media. The type of test used in this study is a written test. The instrument used to measure the variable X (practical learning method) in this research is a questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of statements with four alternative answers: agree, strongly agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. The questionnaire in this study was in the form of a Likert scale between 1-4. In this study, statistical testing uses simple regression analysis. Simple regression is a tool used to determine the effect of one or more independent variables on one dependent variable.

Result
Hypothesis testing is done by using simple linear regression analysis that examines the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. The results of simple regression testing are presented in Table 1. A simple regression equation is obtained based on the results of the simple regression analysis in the table above. In the equation above, the constant score is 109.289, meaning that if the Mathematics Practicum-Based Learning score equals zero (no change), then the students' critical thinking skills score is 109.289. The regression coefficient for Mathematics Practicum-Based Learning in the equation is 0.988 (positive), which means that if the Mathematics Practicum-Based Learning increases by 1 unit, the student's critical thinking ability is 0.988 and vice versa if the Mathematics Practicum-Based Learning decreases by 1 unit, the student's critical thinking ability will decrease by 1 unit. 0.988. artial effect testing is needed to determine whether there is an individual influence between the independent and dependent variables. This regression test aims to determine whether each independent variable has a significant effect using a confidence level of 5% or (α) = 0.05. Accepting and rejecting Ha are based on significant scores (Ghozali, 2011). If the significance level (α) = 0.05, then Ha is accepted (there is a significant effect). If the significance level > (α) = 0.05, then Ha is rejected (no significant effect). The test results in Table 1 obtained a significance score of 0.032 <0.05. These results indicate that mathematics practicum-based learning significantly affects the critical thinking skills of fourth graders at MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Kota Cihami.
Testing the coefficient of determination (R2) aims to measure how far the model can explain the variation of the independent variables. The decision-making criteria for this test are as follows. Suppose the coefficient of determination (R2) score is close to 0. In that case, it can be concluded that the independent variables' ability to explain the variation of the dependent variable is very limited. Suppose the coefficient of determination (R2) score is close to 1. In that case, it can be concluded that the independent variables can provide a lot of information to predict the variation of the dependent variable. Based on the results of the output shows that the magnitude of R2 is 0.437 or 43.7%. It shows that the coefficient of determination (R Square) is 0.437%, or 43.7%, the critical thinking variable is explained by the variable using mathematics-based learning methods, and other variables explain the remaining 55.3%. It shows that the practical learning method is suitable to be applied in the fourth grade of the MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Kota Cihami.

Discussion
The results showed that the Mathematics practicum-based learning method significantly improved students' critical thinking skills at MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Cihami City. Students experience increased critical thinking skills after the learning process because students have been directed to develop their critical thinking skills through practical activities and direct observation. Developing optimal critical thinking skills requires an interactive class so students can be actively involved in the learning process (Afriansyah et al., 2020;Oktavia Wahyu Ariyani & Prasetyo, 2021;Wibowo et al., 2022). Critical thinking includes higher-order thinking skills that require many cognitive resources (Meilana et al., 2020;Ningsih et al., 2018). Practical-based learning allows students to get more cognitive content compared to conventional learning. Practical-based learning, the learning situation is fun because it involves students directly and trains students to think (Dewi et al., 2019;Jannah & Atmojo, 2022). Because by making direct observations of students' their thinking skills will develop.
The practicum method is a way of presenting lessons using experiments. In implementing this method, students carry out activities that include controlling variables, observing comparisons or controls, and using practical tools. Practicum plays an important role in education because it can provide practice to students by following the instructions detailed in the instruction sheet (Alexander et al., 2018;Mustika & Susanti, 2020). By doing practicum, students will also become more sure of one thing than just receiving from teachers and books, it can enrich the experience, develop scientific attitudes, and learning outcomes will last longer in students' memories. Mathematics practicum-based learning methods have a significant effect on increasing students' critical thinking skills. This finding is reinforced by previous findings, which stated that previous findings stated that there was an effect of practicum on the results of Arthropod material for junior high school students (Siagian, 2021). There is a significant positive effect of the simple practicum method on the compound polarity material on students' interest in learning (Fitri et al., 2021). The implications of this research are expected to improve critical thinking skills through applying practical methods.

CONCLUSION
The results showed that Mathematics-based practicum learning positively correlated with students' critical thinking skills. It is evidenced by a significant score of 0.032 > 0.05. The goodness of the model test shows the coefficient of determination (R Square) of 0.437%, or 43.7% of critical thinking variables explained by the variable using mathematics-based learning methods, and other variables explain the remaining 55.3%. It shows that the practical learning method is suitable to be applied in the fourth grade of the MI Persatuan Ummat Islam Kota Cihami.