IMPLEMENTATION OF INQUIRY LEARNING STRATEGY IN PLANT ANATOMY LECTURE TO IMPROVE THE COMPREHENSION ABILITY AND CONCEPT RECONSTRUCTION FOR BIOLOGY TEACHER CANDIDATES

IJAEDU- International E-Journal of Advances in Education, Vol. IV, Issue 10, April 2018 IMPLEMENTATION OF INQUIRY LEARNING STRATEGY IN PLANT ANATOMY LECTURE TO IMPROVE THE COMPREHENSION ABILITY AND CONCEPT RECONSTRUCTION FOR BIOLOGY TEACHER CANDIDATES 1* Muhibbuddin Safrida2 Hasanuddin3 1 Dr., University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, Dr., University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, 3 Dr., University of Syiah Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia, *Corresponding author 2 Abstract The purpose of the research was to study the effect of inquiry learning strategy toward the comprehension ability and concept reconstruction of plant anatomy to the students. The subject of the analysis was students rd of biology education at 3 semester Faculty of Education and Teaching, Syiah Kuala University. The method used in the research was experiment design of Pretest-Posttest Control-Group. Inquiry learning strategy was done by giving students structured task, question answers and discussion. Comprehension of the concept was measured by a written test, an objective test which has been validated. Concept reconstruction ability of students measured by comparing the ability of comprehension ability concept before and after lecture. Comprehension concept data obtained was then analyzed using normalization of gain calculation method. To compare comprehension ability and concept reconstruction between groups of student which were equipped with inquiry learning and control groups, they were tested with Independent Sample t-Test. The research finding shown that there was significant improvement toward concept comprehend of students equipped with inquiry learning compare to students not with inquiry learning. Concept reconstruction ability of students with inquiry learning was higher (62%) compare to students not with inquiry learning. Therefore, inquiry learning strategy was effective to improve comprehension ability and reconstruction concepts of plant anatomy. Keywords: Learning strategy, inquiry, plant anatomy, concept reconstruction 1. INTRODUCTION In preparation of teacher candidates at In-service step, a correct implementation of learning strategy is critical. Plant anatomy is one of the subjects that students must take upon completing study as Biology teacher candidates. The main target that is expected from the lecture of plant anatomy is to make sure students understand the concepts of plant anatomy also the connection between one concept with another that are compiled to understand the plant body. That ability is the basic that bridging basic Biology concepts with advance Biology concepts (physiology, taxonomy, genetics, ecology) or even for other discipline studies that are relevant (agriculture and forestry). Besides, plant anatomy provides students to master plant http://ijaedu.ocerintjournals.org 15 IJAEDU- International E-Journal of Advances in Education, Vol. IV, Issue 10, April 2018 anatomy concepts in deep at basic and medium education level. Plant anatomy is a tool that was used to provide students with Science process reconstruction concept which include analyze, clarify, measure, communication, interpret, predict, plan, and conduct a test. Those abilities are critical for Science/Biology teacher and curriculum of Science school (Depdiknas, 2003, pp.1102). The importance of plant anatomy subject for the student is critical, however, the learning current learning condition was not satisfying enough. This was proven from the test result of pre-learning plant anatomy from the last four years (2012 to 2016) in Biology department of Education and Teaching Faculty of Syiah Kuala University, Aceh. It was shown that most of the students were having incorrect alternative conception toward subjects that were tested. Reproduction concept of cells, networks and organ was top of the list (78%) where the students understand the concepts through alternative concept (Muhibbuddin, 2016, pp.1-26). Data mentioned earlier indicates that the high percentage application of alternative conception was the impact of learning result obtained at the past. The occurrence of alternative conception was also expected related with learning process that was used by Science/biology teachers at basic and medium learning level. One of the indicators that strengthened the conjecture was shown from the result of a research by Muhibbuddin (2015, pp.33-46) which mention that major part (more than 50%) of teachers were embedded with alternative conception in comprehension plant anatomy concepts including concept of cells, networks and organ. Alternative concept couldn’t remain any longer as it will mislead the students or teacher candidates which then will mislead their students. Therefore, it was necessary to improve the comprehension concept, eliminate alternative conception and provide students with ability of reconstruction concepts of plant anatomy. Several research related to inquiry learning strategy has been done by (Capps & Crawford, 2017, pp. 497526; Sahyar & Hastini, 2017, pp. 120-126; Hannasari at al., 2017, pp. 48-52; Philip & Taber, 2016, pp. 207226; Hairida, 2016,pp. 209-215; Kuhn, M.A.,2015, pp. 37-50; Siew Li & Arshad, 2015, pp. 151-175; Basey at al., 2010, pp. 80-86; Baseya & Francwas, 2011,pp. 241-255; Campo & Garcia-Vazquez, 2010, pp. 15-20). However, those research tend to discuss the Science/Biology comprehension concepts for middle and higher school and efforts that have been done to repair learning strategy. Research that mainly discussed conceptual improvement to increase comprehension concept, decrease alternative comprehension conception and provides reconstruction concepts of plant anatomy for students for In-service level has never been studied. Therefore, it was necessary to analyze the implementation of inquiry learning strategy in plant anatomy subject to provide comprehension ability and concept reconstruction for Biology teacher candidates. 2. RESEARCH METHOD Method used in this research was experiment method with Pretes-Post Tess Control Group Design (Gall et al., 2003). Research design was shown in Table-1 below. Table 1. Pretes-Post Test Control Group Design Sample Group Pretest Treatment Post Test Random experimental class O1 X1 O2 Random control class O1 X2 O2 X1 = Learning with strategy inquiry X2 = Learning non-inquiry (conventional) O1 = Pretest (before treatment) O2 = Post Test (after treatment) rd Research was done toward Biology students at 3 semester, Faculty of Eduction and teaching, Syiah Kuala University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Research duration was three months, from September to November 2017. Total of students involved in thwas research was 60 students. The students was separated into two groups, experimental class and contorl class with 30 students in each group. Grouping was done based on basic ability and comprehension of the same concept (data of pretest) and conducted randomly. http://ijaedu.ocerintjournals.org 16 IJAED (...truncated)