Measuring Interactivity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Active Engagement in Smart Classroom Learning: A Mixed-Methods Study in Secondary Education

This study investigated interactivity, collaboration, critical thinking, and active engagement in smart classroom learning in secondary education, responding to persistent gaps in learner-centered evaluations of educational technology. The study was guided by two objectives: (i) to assess the levels of interactivity, collaboration, critical thinking, and active engagement experienced by students in smart classroom environments, and (ii) to examine the relationships among these learning outcomes. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach was employed. A total of 318 participants were involved, including 175 Senior Three students who completed a structured questionnaire and 143 Senior Six science students who participated in focus group discussions, alongside teachers, school leaders, parents, and a district education official. Students were selected using stratified random sampling, while other participants were purposively selected based on their roles in smart classroom implementation. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation analysis, while qualitative data from interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations were thematically analyzed to explain the quantitative patterns. The findings reveal that smart classroom learning is associated with moderate interactivity and active engagement, weak collaboration, and uneven development of critical thinking skills. Active engagement was strongly associated with collaboration and critical thinking, indicating that deeper engagement emerges when smart classroom practices emphasize peer interaction and cognitively demanding tasks rather than presentation-based technology use. The study concludes that the effectiveness of smart classrooms depends primarily on pedagogical integration rather than technological availability alone and recommends strengthening instructional design, teacher professional development, and institutional support to promote collaborative and inquiry-based learning. Keywords: Smart classrooms; Interactivity; Collaboration; Critical thinking; Active engagement