The Ability Of Prospective Teacher of Elemetary School to Solve The Problems Related to Water, Air, and Soil Themes

摘要

This study aims to improve the ability of Prospective Teacher of Elementary School (PTES) in solving problems related to water, air, and soil themes. Learning was designed in several themes and was implemented by using problem-based learning (PBL) model. The effectiveness of the model was then studied on using experimental research with pretest-post-test control group design. Subjects in this study were thirty-two PTES students who attended the basic concepts of chemistry course. The instruments consists of test (multiple choices test completed with reasons), interview, and questionnaire. Questionnaire and interview were used to explore other things that could not be revealed from the test. Data processing was done on using quantitative and qualitative ways. Quantitative data processing was performed by using simple statistics through the SPSS-16 program. Qualitative data processing was done descriptively. The results show that, in general, the skills of PTES students on solving problems significantly increased after the implementation of PBL models. Student show very good responses to the PBL activities. The nurturing effect of the leaning process can be explained based on students' perception. They said that the learning model could be adopted and highly applied in elementary school student's levels.