Implementation of Outdoor Education on Critical Thinking Ability
Vicki Ahmad Karisman
1,2
1
STKIP Pasundan Cimahi, Jalan Permana No. 32B Citeureup, Cimahi Utara, Kota Cimahi Jawa Barat, Indonesia
2
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Keywords: Outdoor Education, Critical Thinking.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an influence of outdoor education on students’
critical thinking skills. The research method used is quantitative research method with randomized pretest-
posttest control group design. The population in this study is the second year of fourth semester students
from 11 classes, the samples taken are class 2A as the experimental group. The study was conducted on 16
meetings for 2 months. The instrument used is questionnaire critical with Likert scale. Based on the results
of processing and data analysis using paired samples T test can be concluded that there is influence of
outdoor education on students' critical thinking ability.
1 INTRODUCTION
The era of globalization demands the high quality of
human resources, in order to be able to compete in
global competition. Quality human resources can be
obtained through the education process. Education
through learning that conditioned students to be
always active, creative, able to solve problems, and
critical in dealing with various problems. Education
should be tailored to the needs of the community.
Education and community development cannot be
separated from one another. The progress of a
society and a nation is largely determined by the
development of the education sector in the
preparation of Human Resources (HR) in
accordance with the times. “The importance of
critical thinking in the 21st century is important to
teach in schools, according to Kettler (2014, pp.
133), which says, “Developing skills of critical
thinking is a pervasive 21st century goal for all
students. The principle of differentiation suggests
that when an educational goal calls on the teacher to
teach a particular set of skills, understanding and
responding to developed differences in those skills is
important.“
Critical thinking is required by every individual
in his or her life. This ability is necessary because in
social life, we will be faced with various problems
that require solving. So that critical thinking skills
need to be formed and improved. According to
Erceg et al (2013: 66) states that In fact, critical
thinking represents one of the most important
aspects of the real life problem solving ability. It
means that the truth is that critical thinking is one of
the most important aspects of the ability to solve
real-life problems. So that, by having critical
thinking skills, a person will be able to overcome
various challenges in his life. Then Lombardi et al
(2015, p. 149) reveals that the ability of critical
thinking is very important to be productive at
working world. High school graduates today are
expected to have critical thinking and problem-
solving skills function and become a member a
productive society.
In addition, a person with critical thinking will
be able to evaluate as part of critical thinking skills.
According to Buckley et al. (2015, p. 3) Evaluative
thinking is critical thinking. Implementation in the
context of evaluation, involved identifying
assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing
deeper understanding through reflection and
perspective taking, and informing decisions in
preparation for action. However, the students in
Indonesia are still lacking in critical thinking.
The results of a survey conducted by the
Program for International Student Assessment
(PISA) (2015, p. 5) show that Indonesia showed
some improvement in student skills. However, it
should continue to be improved as Indonesia is
ranked 63 out of 72 participating countries. In
contrast to other Southeast Asian countries,
Indonesia has a low percentage seen from peak
performance on subject’s level 5 and 6. Like
Singapore 39.1%, Thailand 1.7% and Indonesia
0.8%. In line with this result, Indonesia earns 403
Karisman, V.
Implementation of Outdoor Education on Critical Thinking Ability.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 251-254
ISBN: 978-989-758-317-9
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
251

points in the value of reading and is often frustrated
when given open-ended questions that require
analysis and reasoning that require them to think
critically.
Then the rapid technology provides convenience
for the various needs. Information can be obtained
quickly through various content in technology.
However, not a bit of content that presented a
negative impact for its users. So it needs to be
digested, scrutinized and suffered if you do not want
to be adversely affected. not a few cases that occur
due to lack of critical thinking skills. It's as easy to
accept “Hoax” (news lie) that causes unrest. The
national hoax outbreaks have become a national
problem such as disunity, political instability and
security disturbances that potentially hamper
national development. This indicates that the ability
to receive and find out the truth of information is
necessary. By having the ability to think critically,
one cannot easily accept the lie.
Critical thinking should be part of one‘s self
because according to Ennis (1985, p. 45, in Mesa
(2017, p 17) suggests that “Critical thinking is
reflective and reasonable thinking is committed on
deciding what ti believe or do.“ Critical thinking is
reflective and sensible thinking that focuses on
determining what to believe and do, so that the
individual is able to use all the potential of his or her
mind and thought to solve the problem.
Kayes (2006, p. 613) reveals that Critical
Thinking emphasizes individuals‘ ability to manage,
integrate, and organize complex information.
Thought critical with regard to ability to understand
and assimilate information complex from various
perspectives and has been linked to academic
performance
The development and demands of this era of
globalization should be the concern of the entire
nation of Indonesia. In order to prepare superior,
character and competitive human resources.
Education is a path that can be taken in preparing
the human resources needed in this era of
globalization. Through various curriculum, learning
model and teacher competence can form the students
according to the demands of the times. As in the
curriculum of outdoor education which is one of the
objectives is to develop critical thinking skills.
According to Fiskum (2012, p 22) explained that
“outdoor education encourages learners to
understand the interactions and relationships
between any part of the curriculum. This awareness
promotes lifelong learning and develops critical
thinking skills“. According to Gustafsson (2011, p.
4) Outdoor education has the potential to become an
integrative, complementary education form in a
pragmatic and progressive pedagogy tradition,
which can offer students and teachers opportunities
to learn on the basis of observations and experiences
in authentic situations. Outdoor education provides
an excellent opportunity for teachers and students to
learn in authentic and real situations.
The problems that exist in outdoor education
activities provide an authentic experience for
learners. Outdoor education is an approach that
utilizes the environment as a medium of learning.
Outdoor educational activities conducted with
various games and adventure activities make this
activity fun. Dal am Taniguchi et al (20 14 : 10)
disclosed that the outcome of outdoor education is
enjoyment, confidence, social awareness,
environmental awareness, activity skills, personal
qualities, key skills, helath and fitness, increased
motivation and appetite for learning; broadened
horizon.
2 METHODS
The process of implementing outdoor education to
improve critical thinking ability was conducted
during 16 times meeting with population of this
research is the second year of fourth semester
students of STKIP Pasundan Cimahi. Sampling
technique used is cluster random sampling, with the
design of The One Group Pretest-Posttest Design
according to Frankel (2012: 269).
O
Pretest
X
Treatment
O
Posttest
Figure 1: Research Design.
In this study, the experimental group participants
were given treatment with recreational and outdoor
educational materials conducted with hiking,
climbing, orienteering, outbound and camping
programs performed twice a week.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Hypothesis testing with t test analysis through SPSS
18 using Paired Samples Test. T test using Paired
Sample Test is used to determine the influence and
outdoor education on critical thinking skills.
ICSSHPE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education
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Table 2: Test Results of Paired Samples Test.
*OE: Outdoor Education.
Conclusion: The value of Paired Samples Test
result test on pretest and posttest outdoor education
data on critical thinking ability showed a
significance value of 0.000. Because of the
significance of pretest and posttest outdoor
education data on critical thinking ability is <0,05, it
can be concluded that there is significant influence
from outdoor education towards students‘ critical
thinking skills.
This can happen because according to Field,
Lauzon and Jhon (2016, p. 32) it is explained that
outdoor education is an ideal choice for young
people and adults to spend time. People are
physically active in nature to achieve benefits
related physical and mental health including critical
thinking skills. Outdoor education presents physical
activity that makes the ciritical thinking ability
increase.
Activities undertaken such as exploration,
hiking, climbing, orientering, and camping. In its
activities, each material contains various difficulties,
so it needs to be critical and analyze so as to find the
right solution to solve it. In High Quality Outdoor
Learning (2017, p. 11) it is mentioned that outdoor
education impacts on students, as they:
1) Enjoy participating and reflecting in outdoor
activities and adopt a positive attitude to
challenge and adventure;
2) are enhancing their overall well-being by
gaining personal confidence and developing
character and resilience through taking on
challenges and achieving success;
3) are developing their self-awareness and social
skills, and their appreciation of the
contributions and achievements of themselves
and of others;
4) are becoming alive to the natural local and
global environment and understand the
importance of conservation and sustainable
development;
5) are acquiring and developing a range of skills
in outdoor activities, fieldwork, exploration,
journeys and expeditions;
6) are demonstrating increased initiative and
innovation, enthusiasm, curiosity, self-reliance,
responsibility, perseverance, tenacity and
commitment;
7) are developing and extending their key skills of
communication, problem-solving, creativity,
critical thinking, leadership and co-operation;
8) are learning to appreciate the benefits of
physical activity and the lifelong value of
participation in healthy leisure activities and
reflection;
9) are displaying an increased motivation and
appetite for self-directed learning that is
contributing to raised levels of attainment in
other aspects of their development, as well as
becoming concerned, responsible and fulfilled
citizens;
10) are broadening their horizons and becoming
open to a wider range of employment
opportunities and life chances.
This shows that outdoor education is able to
develop various competencies on the perpetrators,
including to increase the ability of critical thinking
to students, since the ability to think critically will
be influenced by several factors that exist in outdoor
education. First the physical ability, physical ability
obtained from outdoor eduction activities will be
able to support the thinking of one‘s mind because
with the prime physical condition, then one will be
able to think well. Second, in each activity students
are given different difficulties so it needs to be
critical and able to analyze so that challenges can be
solved. Third, instructors or lecturers provide
learning that focuses on students so that the ability
to think critically can increase.
Besides that, according to Hughes (2014, p. 32)
Critical thinking is best seen as coextensive with
Implementation of Outdoor Education on Critical Thinking Ability
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rationality related to various reasons. To be rational
the person must understand the relevance of the
various reasons for the assessment and evaluate the
reasons correctly. Through learning outdoor
education students are faced with a variety of
problems that require analysis and consideration so
as to increase the ability to think critically.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Based on data analysis that has been done about the
implementation of outdoor education to the ability
of critical thinking, obtained conclusion that, there is
an influence of outdoor education on students‘
critical thinking skills.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In this study the authors are grateful to,
Prof. Dr. Endang Komara, M.Si, Dr. Dedi Supriadi,
M.Pd, Dr. Akmad Sobarna, M.Pd, Alviaderi
Novianti, S.Pd, Student level 2A, and all those who
have assisted in this research
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