Efforts to solve and control social problems are the responsibility of social studies teaching and learning in junior high school. One way to support such efforts is by empowering students’ critical thinking skills. For effective empowerment of critical thinking skills, emancipatory learning was developed. The goal is to enable students to understand the material thoroughly, have critical thinking attitudes and skills, and act critically when dealing with various forms of social problems. After conducting the Research & Development method at two junior high schools in Ruteng City, the effectiveness of this model was analyzed. Qualitatively and quantitatively, the teachers performed well in carrying out the teaching and learning activities. The teachers saw this model as a good and creative innovation in social studies learning. Similarly, students gained a significant increase in terms of knowledge, attitudes, and skills related to the teaching materials, both individually and collectively. Students experienced meaningful learning, where this model has helped students connect teaching materials to the social reality around them. This research has an impact on the emergence of a critical attitude in the daily life of the students and an increase in the teachers’ motivation to develop learning models to empower critical thinking skills.