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Inquiry skills are one of the skills that students need to master in learning biological concepts. Inquiry skills are influenced by many factors, one of which is the lesson plan. This study aims to examine the effect of inquiry lab and STEM models on inquiry skills progression. The research design used was a quasi-experiment non-randomized control group, pretest-posttest design, with three treatments, namely discovery learning lesson plan as control (C), inquiry lab lesson plan (E1) and STEM lesson plan (E2) as treatment. The three classes were randomly selected from six classes XI of Science. All students in the selected class became the research sample (N = 98), with details. The control class consisted of 33 students, E1 32 students, and E2 33 students. The material taught in all classes is the human respiratory system. Data in inquiry skills progression is measured before and after treatment. The instrument takes the form of an essay test. Data analysis using ANCOVA (p = 0.05%). The results showed that the inquiry lab and STEM models had a significant effect, and the inquiry lab model had the best effect.

Strengthening Learning Progression (LP) for students' reasoning abilities is important, especially learning about diseases in Indonesia. This study aimed to map the learning progression of disease in Indonesia, compare and analyze its similarities and differences with the LP designed by National Research Council (NRC). This qualitative research to map LP, using the analysis document method by comparing the content analysis of Basic Competencies of Curriculum 13 with benchmark analysis from the NRC 2007 on Science and Biology textbooks published in 2016, 2017, and 2018 at the elementary, junior high, and high school levels published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. The findings are the LP on disease in the curriculum and life science textbooks in Indonesia has not met the benchmarks, especially in three categories, namely; pathogens, the immune system, and infection spanning learning from K-2 (elementary) to K-12 (high school). Therefore, it is necessary to categorize LP topics in diseases based on conceptual abilities from the simplest to the most complex.

The student's environmental literacy (EL) is vital to improving students' awareness of environmental issues. This study was intended to display the role of eco-school program (Adiwiyata) and non-adiwiyata schools towards EL of junior high school students by analyzing EL of students in Ponorogo. The research was conducted in March-October. The survey involved 379 students. The type of research is ex post facto. The assessment used the Middle School Environmental Literacy Survey (MSELS). The results show that the adiwiyata program is related to the increase of EL with the sig value 0.000. The higher the adiwiyata level, the higher the EL value of the environment. However, the general EL assessment in Ponorogo is still low, that more than 51% of respondents did not reach the score at level 3, which is the standard level of EL. The EL ability of junior high school students between male and female sex is different, with the sig value 0.004. All data analysis concluded that the level of students' EL was significantly influenced by school type and gender. EL of students may low due to students' lack of understanding of the environment concepts, the limited theories, and concepts transferred to students.

Inquiry-based science teaching and learning (IBSTL) has been recognized as a powerful learning approach to develop students' problem-solving abilities and higher-order thinking skills. Research has established cultural dimensions in determining successful implementation of IBSTL. Guided by the importance of context in inquiry, this qualitative study explored the cultural dimensions of IBSTL from Malaysian science teachers' conceptualizations and practices of inquiry. A total of 223 volunteering primary and secondary school science teachers from Malaysian public schools were involved in answering open-ended questions to investigate the cultural dimensions of IBSTL. Data were analysed using thematic analysis approach. Teachers were found to reaffirm the following cultural aspects (maintaining social harmony, educator--learner relationship, balance in learning and failure avoidance) in the success and failure of implementing IBSTL. These cultural dimensions, namely educator--learner relationship and failure avoidance, were enacted both by the students and teachers. Thus, a successful IBSTL environment depends on both students' and teachers' roles that are aligned with the inquiry spirit. Therefore, unless and until the cultural influences are addressed, it can be argued that structured and guided IBSTL is the most compatible form of inquiry in the Malaysian education context and other Asian countries that share similar cultural values.

Kingdom Plantae is a topic taught in Grade Tenth in Indonesia high school. The previous researchers have found misconceptions and difficulties in understanding the classification and the nomenclature system of Kingdom Plantae. Understanding basic concepts of Kingdom Plantae is important to study the more complex system of Plantae. This research was aimed to analyze the conceptual understanding of high school students on Plantae. The participants were 372 eleven graders who had studied Kingdom Plantae and selected randomly from eleven high schools in Surakarta, Indonesia. The diagnostic test four-tier consisting of 20 items. The instrument was to identify conceptual understanding. The instrument showed result on validity (mean = 1.00 and SD = 0.06) and reliability (0.46). The test showed that 10.5% students grouped as understand, and the test varied as to False Negative (4.4%), False Positive (10.1%), Lack of Knowledge (45.6%), and Misconception (29.4%). Based on the results of the test, the students have misconceptions about monocots and dicots, the morphology of Anacardium occidentale, Musa sp., and Solanum tuberosum, classification of Anacardium occidentale. It was recommended to do detail examination of the reasons of low achievement in conceptual understanding of students.

Science teachers' practical knowledge of inquiry-based learning influence their beliefs about science teaching and learning. The Indonesian Curriculum released in 2013 has required teachers to teach science via inquiry-based approaches. In fact, some previous studies have found that teachers have difficulties in practically implementing the requirements suggested by the curriculum. It is believed that teachers' practical knowledge may influence their real teaching practices. This research aimed to analyze how teachers employed their practical knowledge in teaching inquiry-based science by selecting an appropriate type of inquiry in science topics. 105 science teachers purposefully drawn from the regular meeting of Science Teachers Association of Surakarta City in February 2017 voluntarily participated in the survey. A nine-item questionnaire originally developed by W.W. Cobern et al (2104) was administered to measure the most appropriate type of inquiry in various science topics. The teachers' options represent their practical knowledge of inquiry-based learning. It is expected that teachers will choose the best appropriate type of inquiry focusing on student's autonomy, i.e an open inquiry. The results showed that the teachers differently interpreted the inquiry-based learning. Teachers mostly used guided-inquiry (32.8%) and open-inquiry (32.08%) to teach the science topics in the questionnaire. It was elicited that 12.17% of them selected didactic direct inquiry, whilst 22.65% of them chose active direct one. It is recommended that future studies should handle the results of the current study to appropriately formulate in-service curriculum and education for science teachers.

Inquiry-based science teaching and learning (IBSTL) has been recognized as a powerful learning approach to develop students' problem-solving abilities and higher-order thinking skills. Research has established cultural dimensions in determining successful implementation of IBSTL. Guided by the importance of context in inquiry, this qualitative study explored the cultural dimensions of IBSTL from Malaysian science teachers' conceptualizations and practices of inquiry. A total of 223 volunteering primary and secondary school science teachers from Malaysian public schools were involved in answering open-ended questions to investigate the cultural dimensions of IBSTL. Data were analysed using thematic analysis approach. Teachers were found to reaffirm the following cultural aspects (maintaining social harmony, educator–learner relationship, balance in learning and failure avoidance) in the success and failure of implementing IBSTL. These cultural dimensions, namely educator–learner relationship and failure avoidance, were enacted both by the students and teachers. Thus, a successful IBSTL environment depends on both students' and teachers' roles that are aligned with the inquiry spirit. Therefore, unless and until the cultural influences are addressed, it can be argued that structured and guided IBSTL is the most compatible form of inquiry in the Malaysian education context and other Asian countries that share similar cultural values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inquiry skills are one of the skills that students need to master in learning biological concepts. Inquiry skills are influenced by many factors, one of which is the lesson plan. This study aims to examine the effect of inquiry lab and STEM models on inquiry skills progression. The research design used was a quasi-experiment non-randomized control group, pretest-posttest design, with three treatments, namely discovery learning lesson plan as control (C), inquiry lab lesson plan (E1) and STEM lesson plan (E2) as treatment. The three classes were randomly selected from six classes XI of Science. All students in the selected class became the research sample (N = 98), with details. The control class consisted of 33 students, E1 32 students, and E2 33 students. The material taught in all classes is the human respiratory system. Data in inquiry skills progression is measured before and after treatment. The instrument takes the form of an essay test. Data analysis using ANCOVA (p = 0.05%). The results showed that the inquiry lab and STEM models had a significant effect, and the inquiry lab model had the best effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]