Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Ability in Electrolytic Cell

Cucu Zenab Subarkah

, Ai Sri Rahayu

, Citra Deliana Dewi Sundari

and Muhammad Minan

Chusni

Department of Chemistry Education, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Jl. A.H. Nasution No. 105, Bandung, Indonesia

Department of Physics Education, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Jl. A.H. Nasution No. 105, Bandung, Indonesia

Keywords: Higher-Order Thinking Skills, Electrolytic Cell, N-Gain, Cognitive Dimension, Analyze, Evaluate, Create

Abstract: One of the chemistry concepts that require the development of higher-order thinking ability is the

electrolytic cell, the concept is widely applied in dailylife, related to technology and is a continuation

course. This study aimed to analyze the students ability of higher-order thinking in electrolytic cell concept.

The method used was pre-experiment with one group pretest-posttest which is applied to 41 first-year

chemistry students in undergraduate level as research subject. Data were obtained from the answers to the

higher-order thinking ability essay test. The students’ higher-order thinking ability in the dimension of

analysis was deficient, their ability in the dimension of evaluation was adequate, and their ability in the

dimension of creation was decent. The cognitive dimension of analysis requires the ability to build

relationships between information provided, in this case most of the students have not be able to reach that

stage. In general, the results of this study informed that students’ higher-order thinking ability on the

concept of electrolytic cell was categorized adequate. Thus, for the improvement, problem solving exercises

require complex thinking are necessary.

1 INTRODUCTION

The rapid development of science and technology

makes education a challenging demand

(Danumiharja, 2014). To compensate for the

necessary qualified human resources, one of the

demands is to have higher-order thinking ability.

Higher-order thinking ability is the ability to

connect, manipulate, and transform the knowledge

and experience they already have to think critically

and creatively in deciding and solving a problem

(Rofiah et al., 2013). Higher-order thinking ability

allows a person to solve the problems faced in his

life (Pantiwati, 2014). Therefore, higher-order

thinking ability is important to be embedded and

developed during learning process as it could impact

the learners' learning outcomes, including

undergraduate students.

Higher-order thinking ability is the highest level

cognitive process hierarchy based on Bloom's

Taxonomy which includes the ability to analyze,

evaluate, and create (Yee et al., 2015; Gunawan,

2012). Indicators of higher-level cognitive

dimension still often escape the attention of

educators, and the majority of the given test

questions is on the basic or lower cognitive

dimension. The previous research result (Syahida,

2012) stated that the high schools’ national

chemistry exam questions of 2012/2013 academic

year involve only 15% of the problems that require

higher-order thinking ability in the cognitive

dimension of analysis, while the rest of the problems

require only the ability to think in lower-level

cognitive dimensions. This shows that the cognitive

dimension that is developed in general is still in the

lower-level cognitive dimension. Preliminary study

results for the first-year undergraduate students

showed that the students' higher-order thinking

ability is still untrained because the students still

cannot reason with the various questions given. In

addition, the student's analytical skills in answering

the various problems was deficient. Research

conducted by Gani, et.al (2011) stated that the

mastery of declarative knowledge of students was

categorized quite well, but the ability of higher-level

thinking of students in solving the problem was still

relatively low.

Subarkah, C., Rahayu, A., Sundari, C. and Chusni, M.

Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Ability in Electrolytic Cell.

DOI: 10.5220/0008220300002284

In Proceedings of the 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference (BELTIC 2018) - Developing ELT in the 21st Century, pages 521-525

ISBN: 978-989-758-416-9

521

Therefore, it is very important to develop higher-

order thinking skills in learning. One of the

chemistry concepts that require higher-order

thinking is the electrolytic cell. This concept is

related to daily life and its application is widely used

in line with the development of science and

technology. Thus, the development of higher-level

cognitive dimension in learning of this concept is

needed. In addition, this concept deals with

advanced chemistry courses such as inorganic

chemistry and physical chemistry, therefore it is

important to be learned and able to build students’

skill through completing the course. The results of

Najwa's research (2016) concluded that the students’

ability of higher-level thinking on the concept of

signs of global warming is categorized as good by

providing open ended questions; Stone's research

(2012) concluded that the flipped classroom learning

model can achieve learning outcomes in higher-level

cognitive dimensions and deepen the understanding

of the concepts.

Based on the background that has been presented

and supported by previous research, the authors are

interested to take the research about higher-order

thinking ability of students on electrolytic cell. The

novelty aspect in this research was in terms of giving

the higher-order thinking skill test with different

pretest and posttest but with the same problem

indicator through the flipped classroom learning

model to measure the students’ higher-order

thinking ability.

2 METHODOLOGY

The method used in this research was pre-

experiment with one-group pretest-posttest research

design that is conducted to one group only without

any comparison group (Fraenkel, 2012). The plot of

this research design was: 1) the researcher gave

pretest problems to the group that will be given

treatment to investigate the students’ cognitive

dimension of the higher level in the beginning of the

research, and then 2) the researcher gave the

treatment of the application of the flipped classroom

learning model to the group. After completion of

treatment, 3) the researcher gave posttest problems

to investigate the improvement of students' higher

cognitive dimension. The extent of treatment effect

was measured by comparing pretest results with

posttest results (Sukmadinata, 2007).

The subject of this research was 41 chemistry

students in their first year of undergraduate study. In

this research, the data retrieval technique was carried

out through the students’ answer to the higher-order

thinking ability test before and after treatment. The

obtained data were in the form of higher-order

thinking ability before and after the application of

flipped classroom learning model on the cognitive

dimension of analysis, evaluation, and creation. The

data processed through the following stages: (1) raw

scores on each student's answer for pretest and

posttest based on the assessment criteria were

summed up and then converted into the final score

by dividing the sum of raw score by maximum score

and multiply it by factor 100. The achieved final

scores were categorized according to score

achievement predicate in table 1; and (2) higher-

order thinking ability improvement was analyzed via

Normal Gain (d) value which is obtained according

to equation 1. Normal gain (d) value was interpreted

based on table 2.In addition, to determine whether or

not there is an increase in higher-order thinking

skills, hypothesis testing was performed.

d =

𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒–𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒

𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒–𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒

(equation 1)

Table 1:Score achievement predicate (Syah, 2008).

Final Score

Predicate

80-100

Very good

70-79

Good

60-69

Adequate

50-59

Deficient

0-49

Failed

Table2: N-Gain index criteria (Herlanti, 2012).

N-Gain (d)

Interpretation

d < 0.3

Low

0.3 ≤ d ≤ 0.7

Moderate

d ≥ 0.7

High

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this study, the content of the tests was used as the

dependent variable, which is the electrolytic cell

concept in the form of its application in life, such as

in metal purification and metal coating. The results

of the analysis of higher-order thinking ability is

presented in table 3.The posttest analysis results of

higher-order thinking ability based on revised

Bloom's taxonomy on the cognitive dimension of

analyze, evaluate, and create can be seen in figure 1

and 2.

BELTIC 2018 - 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference

522

Table3:N-gain value in each higher level cognitive

dimension.

Cognitive

Dimensio

Total Score of 41 Students

(max score 100 per student)

Interpreta-

tion

Pretest

Posttest

N-gain

Analyze

696.43

2307.14

0.47

Moderate

Evaluate

1051.92

2517.86

0.54

Moderate

Create

1626.92

3234.62

0.65

Moderate

Sum

3375.27

8059.62

1.66

Average

1125.09

2686.54

0.55

Moderate

Figure 1: Average posttest score in higher-order cognitive

dimensions.

Figure 2: Percentage of students by predicate of posttest

score in higher-order cognitive dimensions.

Based on table 3 and criteria in table 2, the

improvement of students’ higher-order thinking

skills had a moderate gain with average N-gain

value 0.55. The highest improvement of the skills

was in the cognitive dimension of create with N-gain

0.65, and the lowest improvement was in the

cognitive dimension of analyze with N-gain 0.47. In

addition, figure 1 shows that the highest cognitive

dimension that reaches the highest average post test

score was the cognitive dimension of create that is

78.9, while the lowest average post test score was on

the cognitive dimension of analyze, that is 56.3. This

was caused by the number of students that was able

to answer well at the cognitive level of analyze was

only 22% from total 41 students (figure 2, 9.8%

could answer very well and 12.2% well).

In the question for measuring the cognitive

dimension of analysis, students were required to

discover and describe the concept of electrolytic

cells in metal purification and coating, such as

describing the process of metal purification by

mentioning the reaction possibilities that could

occurred in each salt metal solution when an electric

current is passed through and describing the type of

metal coating used in the given text. As Anderson &

Krathwohl (2010) described, the cognitive

dimension of analysis involves the ability to

crack/divide a problem into its units/small

components of the problem and determines the

interrelationships between the units to form a clear

linkage. In addition, according to Kuswana (2012),

the ability to analyze requires student to be able to

decipher a case problem into major parts and

describes how the parts are connected to each other

and become a whole structure.

The cognitive dimension of analyze has the

lowest increase compared to the cognitive dimension

of create and evaluate. This is indicated by the

absence of students who achieve maximum scores in

the pretest and posttest. Most students described the

processes that occur in metal purification not

thoroughly and does not cover all the criteria, as

there are students who do not involve the electrical

current that encourages the oxidation reduction

reaction in electrolytic cell. In addition, based on the

posttest result, the highest percentage of students

who have a very low score is in the dimension of

analyze with a percentage of 36.6% (figure 2). This

is due to many students who have not been able to

decipher the process of electrolysis of metal

purification to explain the possibilities that occur in

each metal in the anode. Most students simply

answer by elaborating on the occurrence of metal

purification because of the electrolysis process that

causes Sn metal to settle at the cathode undergoing a

reduction reaction when the electrode is immersed in

the solution. There are also those who answer up to

the possibilities that occur on any metal, but do not

fit the criteria that the metal impurity in the anode

having a more positive standard reduction potential

than the metal to be purified (Pt, Au, etc.) will not

dissolve in the anode, but the metal impurity will

form precipitate at the base of the cell, while the

56.3

66.2

78.9

100

Analyze Evaluate Create

Average Score

Cognitive Dimension

9.8

19.5

51.2

12.2

22.0

14.6

36.6

19.5

26.8

24.4

7.3

36.6

7.3

0.0

100

Analyze Evaluate Create

Percent of Student (%)

Very Good Good

Adequate Deficient

Very Deficient

Students’ Higher-Order Thinking Ability in Electrolytic Cell

523

metal which has a more negative standard reduction

potential will dissolve and accumulate in an

electrolyte solution (Ettel & Tilak, 1981: 328).

On the problem that requires students to analyze

the type of coating used, most students only mention

one type of coating that occurs, whereas the

expected answer was more than one type of coating.

Thus, most students do not get the maximum score.

In thinking skills that measure the cognitive

dimension of analysis, some students were able to

identify the most important and relevant elements of

the problem, but some students have not yet reached

the stage of establishing appropriate relationships of

the provided information (Gunawan, 2012: 28).

Thus, this cognitive dimension reaches the lowest

average posttest score and N-gain.

To measure students’ skill in the cognitive

dimension of evaluation, students were given several

questions which require them to assess a conclusion.

Students have to make a consideration based on

existing criteria and standards to show their skill in

evaluating (Widodo, 2005).N-gain value for evaluate

cognitive dimension was lower than create due to

some students failed to state the conclusion o the

problems in pretest and posttest. The highest number

of students (36.6%) was giving adequate answers to

the problems (figure 2). Only six students almost

achieved the maximum score. This was due to many

students were mistaken with the concept, so that no

one reaches the maximum score. Many students

assumed the amount of charge is same as the number

of electrons involved, and most students mistakenly

convert units.

In measuring the ability of higher-level thinking

for cognitive dimension of evaluation, the students

have been directed to the conclusion assessment

stage based on the existing criteria with good

problem solving planning stage, i.e. solving the

problem by applying the concept of Faraday law

calculation first, but still incomplete in proving the

conclusion . Evaluating leads to the testing or

assessment activities of a product that can be linked

to the process of thinking, planning and

implementing so that it can lead to the determination

of the extent to which a plan is going well and a

criteria is produced (Gunawan, 2012).

Cognitive dimension of creation was measured

by a set of problems that require the students to

design simple procedures and series of electrolytic

purification or electrolytic coating appropriately

based on the given text in the worksheet. From

students’ answers, it was found that some students

still believed that the current source is the same as

the voltmeter. This error is caused by some students

were not be able to understand in detail the

difference of Voltaic cell and electrolytic cell, and

also caused by the students' knowledge about the

name of the instruments commonly used as the

current source in the electrolysis is lacking. In

addition, some students had inappropriately

designed the procedures and circuits of electrolysis

components, including wrong choice of electrodes.

This means there were still some students who are

less able to generalize an idea or perspective towards

something and devise a way to solve the problem

(Krathwohl, 2010).

Based on the N-gain analysis, the cognitive

dimension of creation has a higher improvement

than the cognitive dimension of evaluation and

analysis. In addition, posttest results on the question

of measuring cognitive dimensions of create, the

highest percentage of students has a very good

predicate with a 51.2% percentage (figure 2). This

shows that most of the students think very well. In

this cognitive dimension of create, the way of

thinking of the majority of students has led to the

organization of parts to form a functional unity and

to produce a new product by organizing some

elements into a different form or pattern than before

(Gunawan, 2012).

4 CONCLUSION

The improvement of students’ higher-order thinking

skills in electrolytic cell concept measured from the

pretest and posttest score with flipped classroom

treatment was resulting in the medium category with

N-gain 0.55. The improvement of students’ higher-

order thinking ability on the cognitive dimension of

analyzing was smaller than the improvement of the

cognitive dimensions of evaluating and creating.

Meanwhile the improvement on cognitive dimension

of create was the highest. Overall, the high-level

thinking ability of the undergraduate students was

sufficient, so for the improvement, exercises to solve

problems that require higher-order thinking is

necessary. In addition, educators should familiarize

themselves to recheck the students' conceptual

understanding of the prerequisite concept in order to

avoid mistakes in concepts by providing retention

tests on a previously learned material.

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