The Concept of Ocean Sustainability in High School: Measuring the Ocean Literacy of Vocational High School Students in Indonesia

Abstract

In this study, we used propositional concept maps with different ocean-related conceptual sentences to assess the ocean literacy of maritime vocational high school students in Grades 10–12 in Indonesia. Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country, and many aspects of people’s lives, including their jobs, are related to the ocean. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the ocean literacy and related knowledge of students, especially maritime vocational high school students. Thus, in this study, an open-ended questionnaire was employed to acquire data from 255 students at the National Vocational High School 1 Temon in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. A total of 215 males and 40 females participated in this study. In addition to descriptive analysis, we used a one-way analysis of variance and a t-test for statistical inference. The results showed that 11th and 12th graders scored significantly higher in ocean literacy than 10th graders, and female students significantly outperformed male students. Furthermore, student learning was teacher-centered. In this paper, we summarize the results and provide suggestions and references concerning ocean literacy for teachers and high school students.