Vibrant democracy demands citizens who can think critically
The true spirit of democracy is fulfilled through people’s active political participation. However, without citizens who can think critically and distinguish between facts and disinformation, a strong democratic system is impossible. On the contrary, it gives ample opportunities to the power holder to restrict the flow of information and space for expression and replace them with propaganda.

But young people in Indonesia are not equipped with critical thinking skills
We are still facing a learning crisis in basic education as Indonesia’s PISA score continues to decline¹. Almost no students scored at Level 5 or higher in reading.
Critical thinking capabilities are captured in the two highest levels of the PISA Reading Score (Level 4 and 5). Unfortunately, critical thinking is not taught at schools or colleges in Indonesia. On the contrary, what’s being taught in our schools doesn’t seem to equip our students with much reading literacy skills, let alone critical thinking.

We need to seek changes from outside the formal education system if we want young Indonesians to be able to think critically, thrive in the 21st century, and sustain healthy democracy.

Considering the lack of critical thinking skills taught in schools and the widespread dissemination of misinformation, we see the gap and the urgent need to strengthen young people’s critical minds in an accessible way. That is why we started Latih Logika in 2017 to build an online community of young critical thinkers in Indonesia. It is a free online course on critical thinking in Indonesian for high-school students and above, hosted on a mobile-focused website and YouTube. Each lesson consists of a short video and a downloadable short lesson in PDF that contains details and exercises so that learners can check their understanding.

This is a screenshot of our homepage, featuring engaging videos and interactive games, Bad News and Harmony Square, strategically crafted to combat misinformation and foster analytical thinking.

To expand Latih Logika's reach, we have established a strong presence on various social media platforms. Our YouTube channel has over 30k organic subscribers and has amassed an impressive 1.3 million views since 2018.

On Instagram, we have gained over 3k followers over the past two years (excluding the non-active period Dec 2021- Nov 2023). In January and February 2024, we focused on educating young voters to empower them with critical thinking skills. Over the last 90 days, we have shared 28 pieces of content on Instagram, resulting in an impressive account reach of 984k and engagement from 3.6k accounts. Over 90% of the engaged accounts were non-followers, indicating broad external interest in our content.

We teach young people in Indonesia through interactive and educating content
Today, Latih Logika has the following content:

Latih Logika course videos on YouTube.
We have produced 16 course videos, each lasting 4-7 minutes. Each video has garnered more than 100k views since 2018.

Interactive games about disinformation.
We added two interactive games, Bad News and Harmony Square, to help our audience better identify disinformation and not spread it unwittingly. Players learn how bad actors create falsehoods and stir the public’s emotions by playing the games, so they are more immune to similar tactics. Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab developed the games, and we adapted them to suit the Indonesian context.

Regular social media content.
On TikTok and Instagram, we demonstrate how a lesson in the original course is applied to dissect an opinion that happens to be trending. We then invite the audience to continue critically assessing the rest of that opinion. Some examples of the content:

• “Fact vs. Opinion vs. Fiction" (Fakta, Opini, atau Fiksi) is content to highlight the distinction between fact (and how to verify it), opinion (and how to assess it), and fiction (how to identify it).
• “Masa sih Pak/Bu?” (Really?) is the content title when we hear illogical statements or “too good to be true”. We will then provide a short and savvy analysis using language or terms familiar to youth to counter those arguments.

We are looking for future partners in building communities of young critical thinkers in Indonesia
We believe Latih Logika’s organic traffic and usage are solid proof of the concept. If we read the comments section, Latih Logika has a base of followers who eagerly wait for new content. We also notice that Latih Logika has become part of school homework in some Indonesian schools.

In the future, we want to co-organize in-person meet-ups as a safe space to practice critical thinking skills more independently
We want to go beyond distributing content online and create a safe space for more independent, locally relevant practice. We want to partner with local youth-focused CSOs to pilot offline community activities that allow young people to critically assess opinions and information circulated in their social environment. We aim to do this regularly.

• With nonprofits working with youth, we will co-design and co-execute plans for online and offline events to promote Latih Logika as tools for improving their critical thinking skills.
• We will co-adapt our online games to be played in person to make learning more interactive and enjoyable
• We will support them in continuing to develop activities with youth using tools from Latih Logika.