Contribution of practical activities to students' science process skills and digital literacy about photosynthesis

Abstract

Photosynthesis, as part of plant physiology, is an important topic, but students' mastery of the material remains low. One way to master learning material is through practical activity. Sometimes the laboratory facilities and equipment at school are inadequate, so practical activity can still be carried out using local materials and virtually. The aim of this study is to reveal the contributions of practical activity using local materials and virtual laboratories to students’ science process skills and digital literacy. A quasi-experimental design was used in this study, with three experimental classes: class L1, which used local materials; class V1, which used the Olabs virtual laboratory; and class V2, which used the Melati virtual laboratory. The research was conducted at a high school in grade 12, and the sample consisted of 89 participants. The results show that students' science process skills in class L1 have reached a good level with an N-gain of 0.66; classes V1 and V2 have also reached good levels with N-gain values of 0.64 and 0.61, respectively. Likewise, students’ digital literacy is at a good level, and both classes achieved N-gain in the medium category, with values of 0.54 and 0.59, respectively. Thus, implementing practical activities with local materials or virtual laboratories helps improve students' competency. Changes in students' science process skills are, on average, at the complementation level, whereas changes in digital literacy are at the revision level. To improve students' competency, practical equipment needs further development.