RESEARCH ARTICLE Adv. Sci. Lett. 4, 400–407, 2015 1 Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 4, No. 2, 2015 1936-6612/2011/4/400/008 doi:10.1166/asl.2011.1261 Copyright © 2015 American Scientific Publishers Advanced Science Letters All rights reserved Vol. 4, 400–407, 2015 Printed in the United States of America Teaching Duet in Social Sciences Education in Promoting Critical Thinking Abilities Nurul‘Izzati Hamizan 1 , Norasykin Mohd Zaid 2 and Norah Md Noor 3 Faculty of Education Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia The purpose of this research is to identify the effects of teaching duet among social sciences students on the frequency of the critical thinking abilities used. This research are conducted in order to employ the current tools of conventional methods with integration of group activities and learning video in order to deliver the teaching and learning content. There are only selected topics from the subjects content are taking part in this teaching duet approach. This research is conducted using quasi experimental design involving 45 students in one of the universities in Malaysia. The research focuses on the frequency of critical thinking abilities used while answering the assessment test after the teaching duet occur according to Ennis’s critical thinking abilities. By using thematic analysis, the researcher has analyzed and categorized the answers and compared them with the Ennis’s critical thinking abilities. Among 12 abilities contain in Ennis, there are 10 abilities were obtain at the end of the research for the treatment group while there are 7 abilities contains in control group. This result suggest that the teaching duet approach have a potential in promoting the students to use more critical thinking abilities compare to conventional learning method. Keywords: Critical Thinking; Teaching Duet; Video Learning 1. INTRODUCTION An educational institution of the 21st century are facing with many challenges in improving student performance to encounter the new upcoming challenge for the young generation [1]. Educators cannot simply rely on traditional teaching methods to prepare the students for future job environment. Instead, more innovative methods in teaching and learning such as video, animation, simulation and others should be identified according to the requirements of environment in this era of technology [3]. As stated by Simpson [17], today children consistently play video and computer games, watch music television (MTV), keep using instant messaging and watch action movies. Consequently, the learning process must consider the background of the students, the teaching * Email Address: norasykin@utm.my tools used and the pedagogical approach based on each course. This is because young generations nowadays demand a new ethic or methods in teaching and learning so that the process can attract their attention to be more collaborative, global and comprehensive in the knowledge itself [4]. Squire et al. [18] found that by taking these students out of their familiar environments, it may impact in terms of their motivation and attention in the class. 2. RESEARCH BACKGROUND Learning approach can be varied depending on how the students can adapt the learning process in the classroom. Subject content is another aspect on how well is the student can