The Effect of the Area of Interest Strategy on Achievement and the Development of Reflective Thinking among Fifth-Grade Literary Students in Geography

This study looks at how the Area of Interest Strategy affects fifth-grade literary geography students' academic performance and critical thinking. The study highlights a knowledge gap in developing such cognitive skills and addresses shortcomings in conventional teaching approaches, which frequently ignore introspective thinking. Over the course of eight weeks, a quasi-experimental design was used to compare an experimental group that was taught utilizing the Area of Interest Strategy with a control group that was taught conventionally. Analysis of the experimental group's pre- and post-test results showed statistically significant gains in both achievement and reflective thinking. These results highlight the strategy's capacity to improve crucial cognitive abilities and student engagement, pointing to a wider use of it in curricula to encourage deeper learning and problem-solving capabilities.