METACOGNITION MEDIATES SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE, CRITICAL THINKING, AND ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS EDUCATION LEARNING OUTCOMES: A PLS-SEM SIMULATION

Abstract

This article proposes an integrative model explaining how spiritual-existential intelligence and critical thinking may influence Islamic Religious Education learning outcomes through metacognition. The study is presented as a PLS-SEM simulation based on a proposed cross-sectional explanatory design involving students of the Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar. The simulated model positions spiritual-existential intelligence and critical thinking as exogenous constructs, metacognition as a mediator, and Islamic Religious Education learning outcomes as an endogenous construct. A scenario of 220 complete cases is used to illustrate measurement-model assessment, structural-model evaluation, predictive relevance, and bootstrapped indirect effects. The simulated results indicate that spiritual-existential intelligence and critical thinking positively predict metacognition, while metacognition strongly predicts learning outcomes. Critical thinking also has a significant direct effect on learning outcomes, whereas the direct effect of spiritual-existential intelligence is not significant. Thus, metacognition fully mediates the relationship between spiritual-existential intelligence and learning outcomes and partially mediates the effect of critical thinking. The model supports integrative Islamic education by linking spiritual meaning, analytical reasoning, and conscious learning regulation. Because all numerical results are simulated, field validation is required before empirical or institutional claims are made.