 |
Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 19, Issue 2, Article 5 (Dec., 2018) |
This research is a development research (in the field of education) with research design according to Plomp (1997), consists of five stages, namely: 1) the initial assessment; 2) design; 3) realization/construction; 4) testing, evaluation, and revision; and 5) implementation. The choice of the Plomp model refers to the opinion of Van den Akker and Plomp (1993) that education design research is based on two objectives, namely the development of product prototypes and the formulation of methodological suggestions for the design and evaluation of prototypes of these products. One model of education design research based on these two objectives is the Plomp model. T the Plomp model is used as an alternative method in educational research generally used widely in the development of learning devices. Therefore, this Plomp model is relevant for the development of molecular plant taxonomy textbooks. In addition, the advantages of the Plomp model are the methodical testing and evaluation of a prototype until a valid product is obtained through several revisions of the design.
The method we used is research and development or R & D according to Gall et al. (2003) and Sukmadinata (2005), whose steps include:
1. A preliminary study whose activities include research and data collection
2. The development of the prototype and preparation draft
3. Testing and evaluation of products which include: a) testing the product draft; b) revising or improving the product; c) testing whether products have been perfected; d) enhancing product improvement; e) testing whether a product has been improved; f) field testing a product that has been improved; and g) disseminating, implementing and institutionalizing the product.
This study was conducted in students at biology education program in Ronggolawe University, Tuban, East Java, Indonesia at Higher Plant Botany class.
The research was conducted over a two-year period. The first year involved researching the material and development of the textbook. There are three components that needed to be developed:
1) the plant taxonomy textbook itself;
2) supporting devices to accompany the plant taxonomy textbook, including practical instructions and evaluations; and
3) the instruments that were to be used to assess the quality of the textbook.
The implementation of the second year of research was a continuation of the first year of study , which was a period of testing their validity, practicality, and effectiveness and developing a final prototype.
The data analyzed in this study include data regarding the validity, practicality, and effectiveness of the textbook. The analysis of the validity and quality of the school textbook was carried out by five expert validators. To determine the practicality of the molecular plant taxonomy textbook based, we used the syntax cooperative learning model while incorporating the textbook and its supporting materials.
Thus, observation of the practical utility of the textbook aimed at accomplishing a cooperative learning process using the plant taxonomy textbook and its supporting materials (practical instructions and evaluation). The effectiveness of the textbook would be supported by the results of analysis of the four components of effectiveness, namely:
1) students’ learning outcomes;
2) students’ and lecturer’s performance;
3) students’ responses to the learning process through the textbook, and
4) the ability of the lecturer to manage the learning process.
