Students’ Scientific Reasoning At SMA Adabiah Padang

Abstract

Scientific reasoning is one of the higher order thinking skills that are systematic and logical by using the scientific method in solving problems. Scientific reasoning skills are crucial to build students' understanding of the main concepts followed by the ability to communicate them to others. Moreover, it also has a long-term impact on students’ academic achievement. The aim of this study was to identify students' scientific reasoning in order that it affects the development of scientific reasoning abilities as a learning paradigm in 21 st century, especially in the learning process of biology. The final results of this study are expected to be the foundation for empowering students' scientific reasoning abilities. This study used a test of scientific reasoning ability on virus material utilizing instrument adapted from Lawson (1978). The test consisted of 12 essay questions with 8 content questions and 4 reasoned questions. This reaseach is a descriptive study conducted on students from class X MIPA 2 and X MIPA 3 at SMA Adabiah Padang. The results showed that the scientific reasoning abilities of students in both classes were mostly in the low and medium criteria, in other words, none of the students from the two classes had high scientific reasoning ability. In conlusion, many students have low scientific reasoning skills. The students from X MIPA 2 and X MIPA 3 had the lowest scientific reasoning ability on analysis and argumentation. On the other hand, the best reasoning skill in both classes was found in the indicator of knowledge. Keywords: Scientific Reasoning Ability