The effect of TPS and PBL learning models to the analytical ability of students in biology classroom

Analytical thinking is a thinking skill that is significant to be empowered during the learning process. The selection of the suited learning model will certainly optimize the empowerment of skills needed in this 21^stCentury. The difference in the analytical thinking mean score between students who received PBL learning and TPS is presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Comparison of pretest and posttest mean scores for analytical thinking between students who received PBL and TPS.

Based on Figure 1, students' analytical thinking was identified to experience improvement, both in the classes applying PBL and TPS. In this regard, there were no previous reports that examine the effect of these two learning models on improving students' analytical thinking. However, the application of PBL has been reported to be able to improve critical thinking skills (Masek &Yamin, 2011; Nazir & Zabit, 2010; Ramdiah, 2017) and student problem-solving skills (Jonassen, 2011; Kadir, Abdullah, Anthony, Salleh, & Kamarulzaman, 2016). Furthermore, the application of TPS was also reported to be able to empower students' thinking skills (Ngozi, 2009), although the frequency was not as much as PBL. Both critical thinking skills and problem-solving skills are two skills that are closely related to students' analytical thinking (Donald, 2012; Robbins, 2011).

Furthermore, based on the prerequisite test results, the data of this study were normally distributed (p = 0.61), had homogeneous variance (p = 0.351), and there was linearity between pretest and posttest (p = 0.001). Thus, the data can be analyzed using the ANCOVA test. Based on the ANCOVA test results presented in Table 1, it can be seen that the calculated F was 50.859 with p <0.05. The results of the hypothesis test informed that the analytical thinking between students who received PBL learning model and those of TPS learning model had significant differences. The corrected mean of students in the PBL class was greater than students in the TPS class (Table 2.). Therefore, the application of PBL in biology learning is proven able to significantly empower students' analytical thinking compared to the application of TPS.

Table 1. The Summary of ANCOVA test results on the influence of PBL and TPS implementation towards students' analytical thinking skills

Source	Type III Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.
Corrected Model	6565.709^a	2	3282.854	39.095	.000
Intercept	16826.805	1	16826.805	200.386	.000
Pretest	71.749	1	71.749	.854	.360
Class	4270.739	1	4270.739	50.859	.000
Error	3778.735	45	83.972
Total	174651.056	48
Corrected Total	10344.444	47
a. R Squared = .635 (Adjusted R Squared = .618)

Table 2. The corrected mean scores of students' analytical thinking skills in PBL and TPS classes

Classes	Pretest	Posttest	Differences	Improvement	Corrected mean scores
PBL	14.584	70.138	55.554	380.92%	71.249
TPS	28.819	46.875	18.056	62.65%	45.765

In the class that received TPS learning, students had the opportunity to practice their analytical thinking on several learning activities. At the 'think' stage, students were trained to answer the questions given by the teacher individually. The habit of answering questions has encouraged students to get used to practicing their thinking skills (Caroselli, 2009; Napp, 2017; Rashid & Qaisar, 2016). Next, at the 'pair' stage, students discussed the answers to their questions with their partners. The activity also facilitates students to think which answer is the most appropriate. Such learning activities are also able to empower students' thinking skills. Therefore, TPS learning is deemed able to empower students' analytical thinking, even though the empowerment is still not as optimal as PBL.

The high empowerment rate of PBL learning to boost students' analytical thinking in this study is relevant to several previous studies that compare PBL and other learning designs. Some reviewed the influence of PBL and conventional learning toward students' thinking skills (EL-Shaer & Gaber, 2014; Jackson, 2016; Sada, Mohd, Adnan, & Yusri, 2016; Tiwari, Lai, So, & Yuen, 2008). Furthermore, several other types of researchreported that PBL has given a more positive influence compared to those of the other cooperative learning designs, such as jigsaw (Aisyah & Ridlo, 2015; Kustanti, Soegiyanto, & Rintayati, 2017), and guided inquiry (Yanti & Prahmana, 2017).

The class with PBL treatment gives more opportunity for students to habitually solve problems given by the teacher at the beginning of the class session. In each meeting, students will receive a problem and they are asked to provide ample solutions for the problem. The learning that habituates students with facing and solving problems is proven effective to empower students' thinking skills in general and analytical thinking in particular (Belecina & Ocampo, 2018; Cabanilla-Pedro, Acob-Navales, & Josue, 2004).

In addition, PBL's learning process helps students to shape their thinking framework and their analytical thinking pattern to solve problems faced in every situation. In the first phase, students start to analyze the problem provided by the teacher. In the second phase, students, facilitated by the teacher, define and organize the learning task. In the next phase, students are encouraged to collect information and do the experiment in order to solve the problem they will encounter during the development of the learning task. For this stage, students should be able to analyze the most suited information for problem-solving. Furthermore, students are directed to present their problem-solving discussed in their group. The presentation activity facilitates students to analyze and evaluate solutions delivered by different groups and determine which solution works better. Lastly, students are also guided to analyze and evaluate the problem-solving process that has been conducted.

From the PBL's string of activities above, the biology learning conducted in this study is able to guide students to conclude the findings from the data collection process and from the experiment they have done. It also chatters enough time to present students' findings in front of their friends. As the result, these learning activities are proven capable to train students' skills in solving various problems through scientific approach (Jensen, 2015; Krishnan, Gabb, & Vale, 2011; Masek & Yamin, 2011). This finding is in line with the statement from Akcay (2009) and Marra, Jonassen, and Palmer 2014), explaining that PBL is one learning model boosting the students' capability to build their own knowledge through investigation.

PBL guarantees the activeness of students in the learning process. This is supported by Etherington (2011) who explains that PBL positions students as the learning component who should be actively involved in the learning stages. If students are passive, the material absorbance, as well as the thinking skill empowerment will not succeed optimally (Freeman et al., 2014; R. Drake, 2012).