Factors influencing students’ critical skills and cultural literacy skills: including the factors of educational environment, culture openness, socio-cultural interactions, and information access

This research examines critical and cultural literacy skills among elementary students, along with influencing factors: gender, educational environment, cultural openness, socio-cultural interaction, and information access. It involved 200 fifth- and sixth-grade students in Karo District, Indonesia, using narrative tests to measure four components of critical skills (information gathering, understanding, application, and productive thinking) and four aspects of cultural literacy (understanding, awareness, reflection, and evaluation), supplemented by validated questionnaires. Findings show students’ overall skills are moderate, with critical skills (mean = 72.20) slightly higher than cultural literacy (mean = 70.36). A significant gender gap was found, with males outperforming females in both critical skills (8.90-point gap) and cultural literacy (6.81-point gap), statistically confirmed ( p = 0.000). Regression analysis indicates the four factors collectively and significantly influenced both skill sets ( p = 0.000), accounting for 59.29% of variance in critical skills and 67.70% in cultural literacy. Educational environment most strongly influences critical skills ( b = 0.268), while both educational environment (b = 0.237) and cultural openness ( b = 0.227) are most dominant for cultural literacy. All factors showed significant individual influence per t -test results. These findings underscore the vital role of structured educational settings, cultural exposure, socio-cultural interaction, and information access in developing these competencies. The research highlights the need for gender-responsive pedagogy and comprehensive strategies addressing all four factors to enhance students’ skills in elementary education. The research’s uniqueness and strength lie in its single empirical model, which integrates critical and cultural literacy skills into one instrument. This model applies a culturally responsive framework through Karo rituals, folklore, and cultural preservation in reflective-critical learning.