Enhancing critical thinking skills through rhythmic gymnastics activities
Abstract
This study explored the potential of gross motor activities—particularly rhythmic gymnastics—as a medium for enhancing students' critical thinking skills. Conducted as true experimental research with a quantitative descriptive approach, the study employed a time-series design involving three consecutive rhythmic gymnastics learning sessions using the SENSITIF (Senam Siswa Kreatif) program. The program emphasizes creative movement tasks designed to stimulate both physical and cognitive development. A total of 26 eighth-grade students from Junior High School 2 Pengasih, Yogyakarta, participated in the study, consisting of 13 female and 13 male students. Students’ critical thinking performance was assessed through structured observational instruments embedded in the SENSITIF program. The results showed statistically significant improvements in students’ critical thinking skills across the three sessions (p < 0.05). The highest gain was observed between the first and third sessions, indicating a cumulative effect of the rhythmic movement intervention. These findings suggest that rhythmic gymnastics, when delivered through pedagogically sound and student-centered approaches, can foster critical thinking by engaging students in decision-making, reflection, creativity, and collaboration. The study highlights the need to redefine PE curricula to support holistic learning—where physical, cognitive, and affective domains are developed in synergy.
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References
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The works and papers that are published in this Journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publication Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) has the Publication Rights (Copyright) to the published papers and works, and favors and permits the reusing of the same under the license indicated in point 2.
© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2013
2. The papers and works are to be published in the digital edition of the Journal under the license Creative Commons Reconocimiento-No Comercial-Sin Obra Derivada 3.0 España (legal text). The copying, using, spreading, transmitting and publicly displaying of the papers, works or publication are permitted as long as: i) the authors and original sources (Journal, publisher and URL of the publication) are quoted; ii) it is not used for commercial benefit; iii) the existence and specifications of this users license are mentioned.
3. Conditions of Self-Archiving. It is permitted and encouraged that the authors spread electronically the pre-print (before printing) and/or post-print (the revised, evaluated and accepted) versions of their papers or works before their publication since this favors their circulation and early diffusion and therefore can help increase their citation and quotation, and also there reach through the academic community.
