Improving the mental model of high school students related to the concept of global warming through the implementation of the context based learning (CBL) model combined with the CM2RA strategy

Abstract

The aim of this study was to improve the mental model of high school students related to the concept of global warming through the application of the CBL model using the CM2RA strategy (context, microscopic models, macroscopic phenomena, and analogy representation). The mental model categories reviewed include scientific, synthetic and initial mental models. This mental model category is determined based on the test results data level of conceptual understanding. A pre-experiment method with one group pretest-posttest design was used in this research. The number of research subjects was 40 students consisting of 24 female students and 16 male students, in one of the high schools in the Tasikmalaya district of West Java province. The instrument used to collect data is a test of understanding the concept of global warming in the form of essays covering three parts of the question. The results showed that before the application of CBL, the number of students in each mental model category was: scientific mental model (5%), synthetic (40%), and initial (55%), whereas after the application of CBL, the number of students in each category of mental models becomes: scientific mental model (78%), synthetic (15%), and initial (7%). These results indicate that the implementation of CBL with CM2RA strategies has high effectiveness in facilitating the achievement of the scientific mental model.