Pre-service Science Teachers’ Impressions on The Implementation of Small-Scale Chemistry Practicum

Abstract

This study aims to describe the implementation of the small-scale chemistry approach in the practicum, as well as to show various Pre-service Science Teachers’ impressions. This research is action research involving 69 Pre-service Science Teachers (PSTs), 15 males and 54 females. Collecting data using documentation techniques at each stage of practicum activities, as well as reflection sheets. The results of the documentation are presented and analyzed using narrative descriptions, while the results of the reflections from the PSTs are coded and grouped into (1) the most memorable experiment, (2) positive impressions, and (3) negative impressions. The practicum covers five topics, namely (1) separation of the mixture (filtration), (2) reaction rate, (3) oxidation and reduction reactions (electrolysis), (4) heat transfer (calorimeter), and (5) acid-base solution. The practicum that gave the most impressive was the practicum on acid-base solutions (41.2%), while the one that got the least impressive was the practicum on calorimeters (4.4%). Many positive impressions that appear in practicum activities are “low-cost”, “colorful”, “easy to carry”, “hard to break”, “material savings”, and “more understandable”. The most negative impressions that appear in the series of implementation activities are “limited tools”, “too small-scale tools” and “inaccuracy”. The result of the teacher's reflection finally considers the impression of "limited tools", "material limitation", and "too simple" to be a consideration in developing further practicum activities with the SSC approach.