The critical thinking effect of the computer simulation in the physics teaching and learning

Critical thinking skills (CTS) are essential learning outcomes. The development of computer simulation applications is so fast need to be utilized in learning for improving CTS. This study aims to find out the effect of computer simulation, in this case, PhET simulation to the CTS in physics learning for the subject of Work and Energy. This study was conducted on 8th-grade high school students in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The research method used was posttest only controlled group design. The control group and treatment group each consisted of 32 students. The learning for the treatment group was arranged in the form of a practicum using PhET simulation for 10 hours conducted in 5 meetings. The CTS was measured with essays covering five questions that had been tested for item discrimination, the degree of difficulty, validity, and reliability. The analysis technique used was ANOVA with the margin of error of 5%. The results of this study show that learning performance (CTS) by using computer simulation tends to better (77.89) compared with conventional learning (64.75) after the learning process.