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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 17, Issue 2, Article 11 (Dec., 2016) |
High Improving of Critical Thinking Skills Scores Using Remap NHT
The results showed that Remap NHT has the positive effect on students' critical thinking skills improvement. The critical thinking skills scores change from pretest to posttest on students were taught by Remap NHT much higher than traditional learning. It presumably was caused by the syntax of Remap NHT that consisted of reading and constructing concept maps before learning in the classroom, and discussion through cooperative learning type NHT in the classroom and in the last learning, students should completing their concept maps.
Improve Critical Thinking Skill by Reading Activity
In the early stages of learning biology based on Remap NHT, students were given the task to read the course materials that will be taught. This task could improve the students' critical thinking skills as Tierney, Soter, O'Flahavan and McGinley (1989) statement that actually the reader has the thinking skills that sometimes did not recognized or known by them self. Klimovienė and Barzdžiukienė (2006) stated that critical thinking skills could be used to develop the knowledge and skills of students through reading, writing, and presentation.
The reading assignment was given at the end of each lesson and done at home before next lesson. Aritonang (2007) explained that teachers should give students assignment to read related materials for the next lesson routinely. Reading is one way to increase and improve the knowledge, broaden views, enrich the information, and stimulate the emergence of new ideas (Nurdin, 2011). Reading is a habit that needs to train the brain with the positive things as a learning process, so that students have an obligation to read in supporting learning activities. Reading is also possible to convert explicit knowledge into tacit. For instance, by reading a particular lesson materials, the students learn from the book or other resources, thus converting the knowledge contained in the book or other resources into tacit knowledge in their mind (Handoko, Nursanti, Harmanto, & Sutriono, 2016).
Students would be easier to understand the materials that had been learned in the classroom when they already read before, because by reading the students will have a prior knowledge. Habituation of reading will evoke the students’ spirit to learn. Reading is one of study planning which can help the teacher to monitor the progress and evaluate students’ learning, so that the students can change the way of learning to improve their learning outcomes by reflection process of learning. If students do not understand a concept, the students will try to find the meaning of concepts or words that are not understood, so that students will continue to read. Tung and Chang (2009) stated that reading is appropriate with an important feature of critical thinking based on the reasons as follows. First, the mental process of reading requires the ability to think critically. Reading is a complex process that requires the reader to remember, take it back and reflect on their previous experiences or memories to construct the meaning from text. Second, reading material, background and language in literatures help the reader to build a sense of self and the meaning of life gradually with various real-world scenarios.
Improve Critical Thinking Skills by Constructing Concept Map
The next step on Remap NHT, students are required to construct a concept map individually. This is according to a statement of Nesbit and Adesope (2006) that concept mapping is shown to create understanding, improve retention and critical thinking skills and is perceived as beneficial by users. The benefits of concept mapping include increased comprehension, critical thinking, and achievement (Novak & Gowin, 1984).
Concept maps could be used as a teachers’ way to check who students have already read the materials. The task of constructing a concept map would make students read the course materials (Marzano, 1998). Through constructing concept maps students are expected to know the materials to be studied and understand all they had learned. Through comprehend the important concept it will facilitate students to plan and prepare the materials to be learned in the classroom. Daley (2002) suggested that using the concept maps could help the students become more aware and understand their learning and make it more meaningful. Concept maps can make students remember more information and be able to use information more effectively because the information was used as a long-term memory.
The use of concept maps in learning biology generally as an alternative to effective learning if laboratory facilities and infrastructure for the implementation of the practicum are limited. The advantages of the use of concept maps in learning biology is to facilitate teachers in preparing and planning lessons, as well as the creativity of students learning more meaningful. Wheeler and Collins (2003) suggested that concept mapping is effective in helping students develop critical thinking skills by link knowledge and practice. Senita (2008) found that the development of concept maps allows students to see how ideas are connected. It can be an effective teaching–learning strategy that allows a student to develop the ability to organize and group information in a meaningful way. The use of concept mapping allows reorganization of information in a visual manner to promote critical thinking. Concept mapping will facilitate critical thinking and makes the learning becomes meaningful and effective (Atay & Karaback, 2012; Latif, Mohamed, Dahlan & Nor, 2016).
Improve Critical Thinking Skills by NHT
The next step in Remap NHT is the learning in the classroom using cooperative learning type NHT. At this stage the teacher divides the students into groups of 3-4 students. Lie (2002) explained that the cooperative learning can make students easy to socialize and raised more pleasant learning atmosphere because as social human beings could not live without others help. Application of cooperative learning type NHT expected to make students become active in expressing their opinions, develop ideas, to train students to think critically, and responsible for the group's cooperation so that students could achieve the expected competencies (Siregar, Djamas & Nurhayati, 2013). Kusumaningtyas (2013) stated that NHT had the procedures established explicitly to give students more time to think, respond, and help each other.
It is proved that Remap NHT enhances critical thinking from pretest to postest. It seems that NHT as a type of cooperative learning encourages students' involvement and engagement in their own learning. It provides opportunities to make the students thoughts visible to others, allows them to tell about their own ideas, and permits them to consider the ideas of others, which enhances their critical thinking skills. Klimovienė and Barzdžiukienė (2006) stated that cooperative learning could be used to develop students' critical thinking skills through: a) election of different group members, b) create a relationship of mutual dependence and has the same goals, so that students did not work individually and compete among members of the group, c) the position of each member at the group is same, d) the teacher may offer assistance to students as support in finding a solution of the problem, and e) building a knowledge. Cooperative learning is a valuable tool for developing critical thinking, for it creates the most desirable classroom environment where the learners experience psychological safety, intellectual freedom, and respect for one another as persons of worth. Winarni (2011) stated that NHT not only help students to understand difficult concept of science, but also very useful to establish cooperation and critical thinking.
The questioning stage in NHT could trained students' ability to solve the problems (Kristanti, Yudayana & Dantes, 2013). NHT is more effective than traditional learning. NHT related to the problem solving process (Misu, 2014). Student will try to find solving problems so that students are expected to apply in everyday life by considering the benefits for the answers submitted and are accustomed to think critically. Being trained to solving problem students will be adapted to use critical thinking. At “heads together” stage, students can help each other when there are group members who do not understand the course materials. After that, on answering stage each group tries to show the best possible answers during class discussions. Siregar, Djamas and Nurhayati (2013) stated that the cooperation within the group with the numbering on each student was the main characteristic of NHT. All students are trying to understand the materials being taught and each is responsible for a number of their members. NHT preceded by numbering that requires readiness of all students. All group members must be master the subject matter because each student has a same chance to be called by the teacher randomly.
Improve Critical Thinking Skills by Completing Concept Map
After following the NHT, students completing their concept maps to recognize information. Novak and Gowin (1984) described the steps how students learn. Students break vast amount of knowledge into small parts and then reorder or rearrange them into a format that makes sense to their mind. Students then develop connections among these small sub-concepts until knowledge fully grasped. The use of concept mapping allows reorganization of information in a visual manner to promote their critical thinking. Additionally, Hyerle (1996) suggested a concept map was a learning tool that illustrates the thinking of students, allowing students to organize ideas, and better in reading, writing and thinking. Concept maps were generally used on a variety of subjects including biology that serves as a tool to help students organize information and develop higher level thinking abilities (Maas & Leauby, 2005).
The thought process in making the concept map is seems related to the competence of critical thinking (Binkley, Erstad, Herman, Raizen, Ripley, Miller-Ricci & Rumble, 2012; Rosen and Tager, 2013). Ajaja (2011) stated that concept maps help in understanding ideas by showing the connections with other ideas. The process of thinking require students to elaborate and organize meaningful information that cannot be obtained only by remembering information without understanding the sense and looking for a relationship. Concept map is a cognitive task that requires diverse thought high level thinking process which consists of assessing and classifying information, recognizing patterns, identifying and prioritizing the main idea, comparing and contrasting, identifying relationships, and making logical thinking (Kinchin, Hay & Adams, 2000).The principle of a concept map is that it provides a visual means of showing connections and relationships between a hierarchy of ideas ranging from the very concrete to the abstract (Bennett, 2003).
Enhancing the concept maps could make the students improve and summarize the learning (Patrick, 2011). Concept maps were also effective as a learning tool to study in science and to help students understand and remember materials science (Asan, 2007). Opinion was supported by Winkel (2004) stated that meaningful learning was significant if students understand the materials being studied. The good understands related to the course materials make students can memorize it better. Students who use concept maps obtained a higher score on the posttest than students who taught by conventional learning. Thus, the assignment in Remap NHT would provide a positive effect to increase students' cognitive abilities (Asan, 2007). A study conducted by Ajaja (2011) determined the effects of concept mapping as not only a study skill on students’ achievement in biology, but also as a study skill retained biological knowledge longer than those who reviewed the concepts they were assigned to. He also indicated a significant and consistent improvement in biology achievement as the period of experience with the use of the method increased. All the students in the concept mapping classroom interviewed agreed that concept maps helped them not only in the determination of the relationships among the concepts but also shaped their understanding of the concepts and increased their critical thinking.
Traditional Learning didn’t Adequate to Improve Critical Thinking Skill
In traditional learning, critical thinking skills are less improved optimally. Slavin (2011) stated that traditional learning reported to be less effective in improving learning outcomes. Learning activities in traditional learning tend to be verbal (Serbessa, 2006), unilateral (Khalid & Azeem, 2012), and frequently dominated by teachers that make students become passive. Traditional learning did not provide an opportunity for students to become independent learners to investigate and conduct teamwork (Kenner & Weinerman, 2011).
Individual accountability was often overlooked in traditional learning (Ahmad & Mahmood, 2010). The tasks performed only by particular members of group, while the other group members tend to be passive. In traditional learning, monitoring through observation and intervention carried out by teachers throughout the study groups take place. It did not provide an opportunity for students to exercise their creativity (Khalid & Azeem, 2012; Tsai, 2013). The assignments in traditional learning sometimes are individually thus ignoring the interpersonal relationships between students. Teachers often let students or certain groups to dominate so no collaboration and positive dependence among students in the group, and there is no interaction proportional happened.
Concept maps in this learning were prepared by students still manually with paper and pen, not use technology yet, because of limited technology facilities owned by the students or the schools. If the infrastructure allows, preparation of concept maps can be done using technology, for example with some programs like i Mind Map, Cmap Tools, Freemind, Mind Manager and so forth. Knowledge and technology could not be separated because technologies play an essential part for building knowledge (Handoko, Smith, & Burvill, 2014), especially ICT literacy to be one of the 21st century skills that need to be mastered by students.
All in all, the results of Remap Coople improve critical thinking which is consistent with already-published results in another type of cooperative learning in Remap Coople. Based on the above, this research can be valuable information for readers, especially for teachers to choose appropriate learning models that can improve students' critical thinking skills such as learning Remap NHT model. Another Remap Coople models also could be choosen because some of them had proved to improve some skills as well as critical thinking skills as described previously.
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