The Scientific Reasoning Profile of Physics Students after Following
STEM Learning
Supriyono Koes Handayanto, Arif Hidayat, Sentot Kusairi
Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia
Keywords: Scientific reasoning, STEM, Physics student.
Abstract: Scientific reasoning is one of the important skills in learning science. These skills are also required in the
development of science. However, some studies show that students' scientific reasoning skills are still
relatively low. This study aims to find out the scientific profile of student reasoning after STEM learning. The
research is a mix method research with embedded experimentation design involving 10 students of UM
Physics Students. In STEM learning, students perform problem identification activities, gather information
and build problem-related concepts, and end with problem solving by developing project reports. The
scientific reasoning measurement instrument in this study used two-tier test of Modified Lawson Classroom
Test Scientific Reasoning (MLCTSR). The results showed that students' scientific reasoning skills were
dominated by early transition with mean score 6.1 (max 13). Further effort is needed to improve the scientific
reasoning ability of UM physics students.
1 INTRODUCTION
Scientific reasoning is one of the fundamental
thinking skills in science learning. The ability of
scientific reasoning is the logical thinking process
structure that underlies scientific research.
(Thompson, Bowling and Markle, 2018) in his
research found that scientific reasoning is a predictor
of student success in college. The high scientific
reasoning ability will make students have the
confidence to analyze various scientific information
and self-efficacy (Sigiro, Sigit and Komala, 2017),
besides the students can adapt quickly to the
environment and able to make decisions based on
reasoning, analysis, and synthesis information. It is
this scientific reasoning that is also an important
factor for developing performance in science learning
(Piraksa, Srisawasdi and Koul, 2014) and problem
solving (Hejnová et al., 2018). Scientific reasoning is
also an important factor that can help students in
solving problems in real-world tasks.
Several studies have reported that students'
scientific reasoning abilities at various levels tend to
be low. (Ding, Wei and Mollohan, 2016) found that
final semester students had varying scientific
reasoning abilities. Duration of college studies also
has weak association with scientific reasoning ability.
(Prastiwi, Parno and Wisodo, 2018) found that high
school students who studied physics had low
scientific reasoning ability. The low scientific
reasoning ability also occurs in junior high school
students (Mariana, Siahaan and Utari, 2018)
Inquiry-based learning and scientific approach is
believed to improve students' scientific reasoning
ability. Inquiry-based learning with computer
simulation can improve students' scientific reasoning
(Nugraha et al., 2018). Students who follow the
number of science lessons are more likely to have
higher scientific reasoning abilities (Hartmann et al.,
2015). Structured inquiry learning, guided inquiry
learning or with guided project learning and
laboratory activities have also been shown to improve
scientific reasoning skills (Nehru and Syarkowi,
2017). While (Nugraha et al., 2017) found that
problem solving based experimentation can improve
students' scientific reasoning.
Science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) is one of the most widely
recommended scientific studies. The study of
scientific reasoning ability of students who follow
STEM has not been found. This research is part of
research to know the influence of STEM to physics
student. This research aims to determine the scientific
ability of students after following the STEM.
Handayanto, S., Hidayat, A. and Kusairi, S.
The Scientific Reasoning Profile of Physics Students after Following STEM Learning.
DOI: 10.5220/0008412203630366
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Learning Innovation (ICLI 2018), pages 363-366
ISBN: 978-989-758-391-9
Copyright
c
2019 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
363
2 METHOD
This research is part of the research mixed method
which aims to know. Students' scientific reasoning
abilities that follow STEM lessons in the Optics
course. The STEM cycle is problem-based including
steps (1) Problem orientation, (2) mutual learning, (3)
Problem solving with project, (4) Presentation of
project. At the problem orientation stage students are
given a trigger problem to identify the problems
encountered and the knowledge needed to solve the
problem. At the stage of mutual learning, students
will teach their friends on the knowledge they are
responsible for. At the problem-solving stage with the
project students in groups develop projects in order to
solve the problems encountered. At the end of the
student will present the resulting product
The instrument used is The Lawson Classroom
Test of Scientific Reasoning (LCTRS). This scientific
reasoning test is a two tier test with a total of 13 and
a maximum score of 13. The distribution of scientific
reasoning can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1: Distribution of questions of scientific reasoning.
Scientific Reasoning Indicator
Item
Number
Conservation of Mass and Volume
(CMV)
1, 2,
Proportional Thinking (PPT)
3, 4
Control of Variables (CV)
5, 6, 7,
Probabilistic Thinking (PBT)
8, 9,
Correlational Thinking (CT)
10,
Hypothetical-deductive Reasoning
(HDR)
11, 12, 13
An item test score is 1 if the student correctly
answers the question on the first tier and also true on
the second tier. The score will be zero if one of the
tiers or both is wrong. The category of scientific
reasoning ability based on scores obtained by students
is as Table 2.
Table 2: Category of scientific reasoning.
Score
category
0 - 4
A Concrete reasoning
5 - 7
Early transition
8 - 10
Final transition
11 - 13
A Formal reasoning
3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The results of the measurement of scientific reasoning
ability of students after following STEM data are seen
in Table 3.
Table 3: Descriptive statistics of scientific reasoning tests.
Mean
6.1
SD
0,99
Range
3
Min
4
Max
7
From Table 3 it can be seen that the average of
scientific reasoning ability of students after following
STEM is 6.1 i.e. all students have scientific reasoning
ability around the early transition ability. Thus it can
be said that the scientific reasoning ability of students
tends to be low. The distribution of student scores can
be seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Distribution of students’ scientific reasoning
scores
Table 4: Percentage of student in every category.
Category
A Concrete reasoning
Early transition
Final transition
A Formal reasoning
Percentage of students according to scientific
reasoning category can be seen in Table 4. It shows
that most students are in the early transition category
(90%) and the rest are in the category of a concrete
reasoning. While the final category of transition and
ICLI 2018 - 2nd International Conference on Learning Innovation
364
formal transition is zero percent. It also indicates the
low scientific ability of the students.
The scientific reasoning ability of students per
indicator can be published in Table 5. It can be seen
that students have sufficient ability on CMV (70%),
PPT (60%), and HDR (57%). Low student ability
occurs in PBT (50%) and low on CV and CT
indicators.
Table 5. Percentage of student’s scientific reasoning per
indicator
Scientific Reasoning Indicator
Correct
(%)
Conservation of Mass and Volume
(CMV)
70
Proportional Thinking (PPT)
60
Control of Variables (CV)
20
Probabilistic Thinking (PBT)
50
Correlational Thinking (CT)
10
Hypothetical-deductive Reasoning
(HDR)
57
One example of student answers can be seen in
Figure 2. It can be seen that many students who
answered correctly on tier 1 and tier 2 but only a few
students who answered correctly on both tiers.
Figure 2: Example of scientific reasoning problem
Research shows that the scientific reasoning of
students after following STEM is low with a mean of
6.1 of scale 13. Most scientific reasoning abilities are
in the initial transition and a small part in concrete
reasoning. Low scientific reasoning ability in parts
CV and CT.
The results of this study are consistent with the
results of other Indonesian studies which found that
the ability of Indonesian students and students is low
(Mariana, Siahaan and Utari, 2018; Prastiwi, Parno
and Wisodo, 2018). However, the study also
contradicts research (Bao et al., 2009) who found that
STEM can improve students' scientific reasoning
abilities. The research was also slightly different from
the findings (Piraksa, Srisawasdi and Koul, 2014)
who found that Lowest mean score for the students'
scientific reasoning abilities were HDR, CV, PPT.
The time factor of the STEM implementation may be
the cause of the differences in the results of this study
Seeing the results of this research, scientific
reasoning should get serious attention, especially in
lectures in Indonesia. Need to do a study involving
more students and a longer period of time. It is also
necessary to consider efforts to improve the scientific
reasoning of students in Indonesia.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Through this research, it can be concluded that
scientific reasoning ability of students after following
STEM is still in low level. Most of students are in the
early transition category, while the rest student in
concrete reasoning category. There is no students are
in final transition and/or formal reasoning category.
Furthermore, scientific reasoning should have a
serious attention in order to improve it, especially on
students in Indonesia.
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