The STAR Model for Enhancing Critical Thinking and Reflective Learning in Higher Education
Keywords:
STAR Model, Enhancing Critical, Reflective LearningAbstract
This study proposes the STAR Model (Situation–Task–Action–Reflection) as an integrated pedagogical framework for enhancing critical thinking and reflective learning in higher education. Drawing upon Dynamic Capabilities Theory, Metacognitive Self-Regulation Theory, and Cognitive Scaffolding Theory, the model conceptualizes a structured sequence that guides students from contextual understanding and problem identification to evidence-based action and metacognitive reflection. A qualitative case study approach was employed to explore how the model facilitates students' cognitive and reflective development through interviews, classroom observations, reflective journals, and document analysis. Data were analyzed using the interactive model of Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña. The proposed framework demonstrates that the STAR Model systematically integrates analytical reasoning and reflective practice into a continuous learning cycle, enabling students to strengthen problem-solving skills, self-regulation, adaptive learning, and lifelong learning competencies. As a conceptual and pedagogical contribution, the STAR Model offers an innovative, theoretically grounded, and scalable instructional framework that can be applied across diverse higher education disciplines to support the development of intellectually agile and critically reflective graduates.
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