Practicality and Effectiveness of Student Worksheet Using Inquiry-Based Learning Assisted by Basic Mathematics Skills To Develop Critical Thinking Skills
Practicality and Effectiveness of Student Worksheet Using Inquiry-Based Learning Assisted by Basic Mathematics Skills To Develop Critical Thinking Skills
ISSN No:-2456-2165
Abstract:- The purpose of this research is to find out formulating problems and hypotheses, collecting, and
the practicality and effectiveness of student worksheet analyzing data to test the hypotheses, concluding, and
using IBL assisted by basic mathematics skills to communicating the results obtained. This is very necessary,
develop critical thinking skills. The method used was because one of the goals of science learning is to develop
quasi-experimental designs with pretest-posttest type. students' critical thinking skills (Bailin, 2002).
The practicality was obtained through the results of
observations of the learning implementation and Generally, thinking can be defined as a representation
student responses questionnaire. The effectiveness was of cognitive processing in the brain that may occur both
obtained through pretest-posttest data analyzed by N- consciously and unconsciously and may not always follow
gain and effect size. The results of the observation of the the laws of logic (Frensch and Funke, 2002). While critical
learning implementation and student responses thinking consists of mental processes, strategies, and
questionnaire were included in very good and very high representations used to solve problems, make decisions,
categories. N-gain test in control and experiment groups and learn new concepts (Sternberg, 1986). It can be said
was considered in low and medium categories. While, that people who struggle mentally to find solutions to a
the effect size obtained was in very strong category. In problem which is faced in everyday life are also thinking
general, the result shows that the student worksheet has critically.
met the criteria of practicality and effectiveness.
Critical thinking is the careful application of reason in
Keywords:- Student worksheet, IBL, Mathematic Skills, the determination of whether a claim is true (Moore dan
Critical Thinking Skills. Parker, 2009). It is because people who have critical
thinking skills not only see a problem from one side, are
I. INTRODUCTION open to new evidence even though it contradicts the idea,
do rational reasoning, prioritize evidences to support their
One of the Education For ALL (EFA) targets declared claims, draw conclusions from the facts that exist, can
in Dakkar, Senegal is to improve the quality of education solve the problems, etc. (Willingham, 2007)
so that student learning outcomes can be recognized and
measured (Unesco, 2000). This is followed up by the Critical thinking skill is one component of several
government through one of the learning system components of high-level thinking skills (Winocur, 1985).
improvement programs (Forum Koordinasi Nasional PUS, Also, in this era, the linear science and technology (IPTEK)
2013). The implementation changed the direction of developed rapidly along with the rapid development of
learning including physics learning which was carried out information both in quantity and diversity. However, the
with scientific inquiry (BSNP, 2006). Inquiry-based quantity of this information is not necessarily qualified and
learning (IBL) is a learning process which is carried out correct, so it requires the ability to select and evaluate the
through investigation as the scientists work scientifically. validity of data and information sources. Therefore, the
In other words, IBL can strengthen the relationship students are required to have critical thinking skills. Critical
between learning and research (Spronken and Walker, thinking skill is divided into 5 groups of indicators,
2010). namely: (1) elementary clarification; (2) basic support; (3)
making inference, (4) Advanced clarification; and (5)
Physics learning which has been conducted should be strategic and tactics (Ennis, 1985).
student-centered and no longer teacher-centered. Physics
learning should be emphasized in three domains, namely The facts that occur indicate that students' critical
cognitive, affective, and psychomotor (Dimyati and thinking skills in Indonesia are still low. This condition is
Mudjiono, 2006). Physics learning is conducted with a caused by the teachers who do not implement the
series of experiential activities that allow students to curriculum direction. Preliminary research conducted in
discover existing knowledge through inquiry process. It is several State Senior High Schools in Bandar Lampung
because physics is one part of the Natural Sciences which show that physics learning is not in accordance with
studies the symptoms, events or natural phenomena, and curriculum direction (Riawan and Suyatna, 2015). This is
reveals all the secrets and laws of the universe (Suparno, shown in Table 1 which provides information concerning
2007). Students work in the learning process by the condition of the learning activities occurred was started
Response (%)
Learning Activities Teachers Students
Yes No Yes No
Fenomena related to materials taught 80 20 85 15
Fenomena can cause problems 20 80 30 70
Giving temporary answers 0 100 10 90
Collecting data and information 0 100 12 88
Describing the findings and information 0 100 15 85
Explaining the materials, the examples of question, and practice questions 100 0 45 65
Table 1:-Student and teacher questionnaire analysis related to learning activities
The phenomena were presented more in notification Further learning activities are explaining the
form, and they did not reach to the level which makes the materials, giving question examples, and doing exercise. It
students ask. In fact, asking is the heart of the success of is proven that 100% of teachers do not facilitate the
IBL (YouthLearn Initiative, 2009). It is proven that 80% of students by giving them temporary answers, collecting data
teachers are aware that the phenomena given do not cause and information to build their knowledge, and describing
problems that make students try to solve them. However, what are found. Therefore, it can be said that the teachers
20% of students feel that what has been delivered by the have not carried out the curriculum instruction. Further
teachers is a problem. This is the potential that can be facts based on preliminary research are shown in Table 2.
processed so that students are able to build their
knowledge.
Response (%)
Type of Problem Teachers Students
Yes No Yes No
Students are not active 70 30 80 20
Students’ mathematics skills are low 80 20 90 10
Students’ motivations are low 70 30 60 40
Table 2:- Problems in the learning process
Table 2 illustrates that 80% of the students are Student worksheet eases teachers to manage the
passive in learning activities. This condition will not learning from teacher-centered to student-centered
develop students' critical thinking skills. Whereas, in this (Darmojo and Kaligis, 1993). This is because student
era, people whose mindset are trained are needed to play a Worksheet is the medium for teachers to guide their
role in the development of this era (Education Paradigm students to discover concepts through their own activities
Team, 2010). The opposite might occur when the teacher or in workgroups. The use of student worksheet in learning
gives students the opportunity to explore various will make it easier for students to read and absorb the
information. However, this exploration activity will not run messages contained while making it easier for teachers to
smoothly if there is no guideline namely student worksheet assess activities carried out by students (Sunyono, 2008).
which is suitable for IBL, which provide the descriptions However, the student worksheet used must meet the student
and instructions or rules that can help students to complete worksheet organization requirements in the form of
each stage of learning (Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark, didactic requirements, construction requirements, and
2006) technical requirements (Darmodjo and Kaligis, 1993).
The use of student worksheet in the learning will Another problem faced by the teachers in physics
make it easier for students to read and absorb the messages learning is student’s low mathematics skills (Rusilowati,
contained in it and make it easier for teachers to assess the 2006; Wijayanti, 2010), where 80% of teachers stated that
activities carried out by the students (Töman, Akdeniz, students’ mathematics skills are low. This situation makes
Çimer, & Gürbüz, 2013). Student worksheet can enable the students difficult to understand the concepts of Physics
students in learning to find and develop concepts as well as (Semela, 2010; Sadler and Tai, 2001). While physics
to motivate the students to improve their cognitive abilities theories can be in the form of mathematical model of
(Marrysca, Surantoro, and Ekawati, 2013). If learning several physical phenomena which are written in
activities and cognitive abilities are good, then student mathematical terms (Quale, 2011). This complexity will
worksheet can also optimize critical thinking skills cause 70% of students to have low motivation.
(Damayanti, Ngazizah, and Setyadi, 2013).
A. The Practicality of Student worksheet of Development The third activity is reading student worksheet and
Result submitting the problem statement. In this activity, students
The observation of learning implementation was were discussing problems with friends in their groups and
carried out by the observer during the teaching and learning there were some who asked about making a problem
process. The Observer saw and assessed whether the statement. The students seemed to have difficulty in
learning activities which used student worksheet of making problem statements. It can be seen from the time
development result in accordance with the lesson plan. The spent which problem statements. It can be seen from the
implementation of learning activities can be seen in Table 5 time spent which was longer than the time allocation in the
which is shown below. lesson plan. However, the question or the formulation of
the problem is the key to the implementation of IBL
The first learning activity carried out is reading the (Nuangchalerm, 2014), so it becomes very important.
phenomena presented in the student worksheet of Moreover, the questions can give positive impacts to the
development result. This activity ran according to the time learning process and it is a way to develop critical thinking
allocation. The second activity is making the teachers to be skills (Dori and Herscovitz, 1999).
Implementation
Learning Activities
Yes No
Reading the phenomena contained in the student worksheet 1
Observing the demonstrations of phenomena and collecting information, facts and data. 1
Proposing the formulation of the problems 1
Analyzing information, facts, and data 1
Making hypothesis 1
Choosing tools and conducting experiment to fill in the first data in the student worksheet 1
Choosing tools and conducting experiment to fill in the second data in the student worksheet 1
Choosing tools and conducting experiment to fill in the third data in the student worksheet 1
Analyzing the experimental data 1
Drawing conclusion 1
Presenting the experimental results 1
Solving the problems 0 1
Table 5:- Learning implementation data
The fourth activity is analyzing the information, facts, groups. This activity was carried out according to the time
and data obtained through observing the phenomena carried allocation.
out through discussion. This situation was conducted to
realize interactions with the environment which involve The sixth and seventh activity are choosing the
cognitive processes (Shah, 2012). The students did experimental tools which have been provided on the table
reasoning by connecting various data and facts obtained to according to the data given in the student worksheet. This
understand the phenomena which were presented activity is the phase of conducting the experiment. Students
comprehensively as the basis to make hypotheses. This is weighed a load of 100 grams in the air followed by
in accordance with the opinion of Willingham (2007) who weighing it in the water and salt solution. Then, the
stated that rational reasoning related to the facts that exist students weighed the weight of the spilled fluid. This
can solve the problem. activity was carried out to find the difference in weight data
from objects weighed in the air with the object weighed in
The fifth activity carried out by students in the fluid to prove the difference in weight equals to the
accordance with student worksheet of development result is weight of the spilled water. This activity ran according to
making temporary answers from the formulation of the the time allocation. While, the eighth activity is conducting
problems made. The teachers monitored student activities the experiment to determine the density of the salt solution
by approaching each group. It was observed that the which had been used. This measurement was carried out
students discussed enthusiastically in their respective according to the time allocation given.
If interpreted from the implementation criteria, this Language is a tool which is used to convey all the
percentage is included in a very good category. The results meanings contained in the student worksheet. When the
of the students’ response questionnaire have been shown in language presented in the student worksheet is easy to
Table 6. Students' responses related to the ease of understand, students will easily learn by processing
understanding the language used in the student worksheet information obtained both cognitive, affective, and
reaches 83.33% and it is included in very high category. psychomotor. It is because learning is a complex internal
Frequency of N-gain
Group Interval
Control Group Experimental Group
0.11-0.25 10 0
0.26-0.40 13 0
0.41-0.55 5 10
0.56-0.70 0 7
0.71-0.85 0 6
0.86-1.00 0 4
Classical N-gain 0.29 0.63
Category Low Moderate
Minimum N-gain 0.14 0.41
Maximum N-gain 0.50 1.00
Total number of students 28 27
Table 7:-The recapitulation of N-gain calculation results
The results of independent sample t-test for N-gain differences that arise between the two situations can be
showed a significant difference in the average of student related to that variable. The experimental group has a
learning outcomes in the experimental and control groups. higher average because the students use the student
This condition occurs because in learning which use worksheet in learning using IBL. This is in line with the
student worksheet of development result, student are more research conducted by Septiani, Purwoko, and Aisyah
focused in conducting inquiries. Students are required to (2012) which concludes that the learning outcomes of
find the answers for the formulation of the problem raised students who use student worksheet with IBL are included
by guiding questions that have been compiled in the student in good category. Likewise, the results of the research
worksheet. With targeted inquiry, students can effectively conducted by Kusmana (2008), Pramono (2008) and the
understand the problem to be solved. research of Marrysca, Surantoro, and Ekawati (2013) which
conclude that learning with IBL can improve student
In addition, the assistance of basic mathematics skills learning outcomes.
is an accurate solution to overcome students' weak
mathematics skills. In accordance with the law of the single Therefore, it can be concluded that learning which
variable by Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Razavieh (2010) uses student worksheet and IBL model can improve student
that if two situations are the same in all respects except for learning outcomes. Meanwhile, the development of
variables added or removed from one situation, then each
N-gain Analysis
Critical Thinking Indicators Control Group Experiment Group
Pretestt Posttest N-gain Pretestt Posttest N-gain
Elementary clarification and basic support 43,0 63,6 0,36 38,5 78,8 0,66
Making inference 38,6 56,4 0,29 41,1 80,0 0,66
Advance clarification 39,5 53,6 0,23 38,9 79,4 0,66
Strategic and tactics 29,5 46,6 0,24 36,7 70,7 0,54
Table 8:-The recapitulation of N-gain per critical thinking indicator
Based on Table 8, it is seen that the N-gain values of Susilo (2016) which stated that inquiry learning is able to
elementary clarification and basic support of control and improve students' critical thinking skills.
experimental groups are 0.36 and 0.66. Both of them are in
the moderate category. Elementary clarification and basic The Mann Whitney test on all N-gain per indicator
support indicator have N-gain for the control and data shows that there is a significant growth of critical
experimental groups of 0.29 and 0.66 in the low and thinking skills in each indicator. This result is in line with
medium categories. Advance clarification indicator has N- the research conducted by Riyadi (2008) which concluded
gain value for the control and experimental groups of 0.23 that IBL can develop students' critical thinking skills.
and 0.66. It is included in the low and medium categories. While, the opinion of Qing, Jing, and Yan (2010) stated
Whereas, strategic and tactics indicator have N-gain value that the implementation of learning with IBL can improve
for the control and experimental groups of 0.24 and 0.54. It the critical thinking skills of prospective teachers.
is included in low and medium categories. In plain view, all
indicators of critical thinking skills have increased. This is The results of the N-gain statistical test indicate that
in line with the results of research conducted by Rahma there is an increase in thinking skills in each indicator.
(2012), research conducted by Satria, Purnomo, and However, how much growth that occurs is measured using
Martini (2014) and research conducted by Kristanto and the effect size. The results of the calculation of the effect
size are shown in Table 9 below.
Based on Table 9, the value of students' argument Students are actively involved in all learning processes
analysis skills is 0.83. This is included in the moderate while being able to build their own knowledge with the
effect category. The skills of Asking and answering assistance of student worksheet.
questions have an effect size of 1.22 which is included in
the strong effect category. Making and considering Direct student involvement causes students to use
induction skills gained an effect size of 1.20 which is their power and efforts to think critically in solving
included in strong effect category. While making and problems raised in learning activities. Students are required
considering decisions skills obtained an effect size of 1.01. to find out information that is useful for themselves to
It is included in the strong effect category. solve the problems, so that it will be easier to understand
the problems raised. Therefore, it can be said that the
If it is calculated, the results of this effect size has an effectiveness of the student worksheet of development
average of 1.065 which is included in the strong effect result is achieved because students are directly involved in
category. These results indicate a measure of the learning starting from observing phenomena to drawing
effectiveness of the student worksheet of development conclusions. This is in line with the research conducted by
result which grow critical thinking skills. This is in line Jaya, Sadia, and Arnyana (2014). Effectiveness is resulted
with the opinion of Cohen, Manion, & Morrison (2007) form the learning by conducting inquiry activities so that
which states that effect size is only a way to calculate the students are actively involved in learning directly, students
differences between two groups. For example, if one group do not just accept and memorize the information provided
has experimental treatment and the other has not (control), by the teacher, but students are required to actively find out
then effect size is a measure of the effectiveness of the concepts through learning activities.
treatment. This strong influence is caused by students who
dominate the learning activities or student-centered.