The influence of science, technology, engineering, mathematic (STEM) based biology learning through inquiry learning models towards students’ critical thinking skills and mastery of biological concepts

Abstract

Critical thinking skill and mastery of concepts is important to develop because they facilitate the formation of student independence and one of the important skills that challenges of 21st century. Mastery of concepts is the ability of students to understand meaning scientifically, theories to be applied in problem solving. Concepts are very important to be developed by students because they serve as a foundation for thinking. This skill can be developed through innovative learning processes trought STEM-Based Learning with Inquiry Learning Models. The aim of this research was to know influence of science, technology, engineering, mathematic (STEM) based biology learning through inquiry learning models towards students’ critical thinking skills and mastery of biological concepts. This research is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest group design research design. This research was conducted in class X of the Laboratory Senior High School of Malang State University. Class X IPA 1 as an experiment class and class X IPA 3 as a control class. The instrument of data collection in the form of essay questions. Data analysis was performed with one-way Anakova test. The results of the research of the implementation of learning STEM based biology learning through inquiry learning models towards students’ critical thinking skills and mastery of biological concepts. The results showed differences of critical thinking skill in the experiment class and the control class based on the results of the Anacova test with a significance value of p (= 0,000) <α (0.05) and the results mastery of biology concepts in the experiment class and the control class based on the results of the Anacova test with a significance value of p (= 0,000)< α (0.05). This showed that STEM-Based biology learning through inquiry learning models towards students’ critical thinking skills and mastery of biological concepts.