Integrated STEM with Project-Based Learning Implementation to Enhance Students' Creativity

CoRe is one of the Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) representation that it important for pre-service chemistry teacher. This study aimed to analyze the correlation among pre-service teachers’ understanding of curriculum (UC), understanding of context-based learning (UCB), self-efficacy (SE) and the ability for designing Content Representation context-based chemistry (CoRe-CBC). A correlational study was conducted on 41 pre-service chemistry teacher of postgraduate program. Pre-service teachers’ understanding of curriculum was assessed using a 30-item of multiple choices. The 6-open ended questions were used to measure the understanding of context-based chemistry learning. Students’ self-efficacy was assessed by a questionnaire with 18 items. A group of experts confirmed the construct and face validity of all the instruments. Data analysis used Pearson correlation and regression. The result showed a high correlation between UCB and ability for designing the CoRe-CBC also with UC. A low correlation occurred between UC and the ability for designing CoRe-CBC. The variable of UCB had the biggest effect on the pre-service teacher ability for designing CoRe-CBC. However, the pre-service chemistry teacher still had less understanding in context-based chemistry learning. This study suggests that pre-service teachers’ understanding of curriculum and context-based chemistry learning should be improved. It will useful to support the implementing context-based chemistry learning.

Scientific inquiry is a process in which individuals pose questions, think critically and engage in problem-solving research and investigation. It enables the explanation of observable scientific phenomena, problems, or events based on evidence. Through this process, students not only find answers to their questions but also structure their knowledge, opening the door to scientific practice. Scientific inquiry skills consist of six process components: defining the question or problem, developing a model to answer the question or find a solution to the problem, planning and realizing the research, analyzing and interpreting data, making evidence-based explanations and producing solutions, and evaluating and sharing knowledge. The aim of this study is to determine the readiness of pre-service chemistry teachers for the competency-based curriculum. Conducted as action research, the study involved 16 pre-service chemistry teachers over 12 weeks during the chemistry laboratory course in the fall semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. Data collection tools included open-ended questionnaire items to gauge pre-service teachers’ perceptions of scientific inquiry skills, an activity sheet designed to foster these skills, and a rubric for evaluation. The study analysed the use of the components of scientific inquiry skills by pre-service teachers. The results indicated that the pre-service chemistry teachers most frequently utilized the components ‘defining the question or problem’ and ‘planning and conducting research,’ which are subcomponents of scientific inquiry. However, the components ‘making evidence-based explanations and producing solutions’ and ‘evaluating and sharing knowledge’ were used less frequently in the activities they designed.

Teacher training process must stimulate reflective thinking skill because this skill is crucial to improve teaching and learning capability. Indonesian version of standardized instrument to assess the development of reflective thinking skill in teacher training program is still limited. This research aimed to adapt Reflective Thinking Questionnaire (RTQ) to Indonesian version, investigate its quality, probe pre-service chemistry teachers’ level of reflective thinking, investigate relationship between reflective thinking and GPA, and compare between 1st year and 4th year pre-service chemistry teachers’ reflective thinking skill. RTQ is a 16 items 5 point Likert scale questionnaire purposed to measure reflective thinking in 4 subscale levels: Habitual Actions (HA), Understanding (U), Reflection (R), and Critical Reflection (CR). Each subscale was assessed by 4 questionnaire items. With the help of four science education experts who are fluent in both languages, RTQ was first translated into Indonesian and then its empirical result was substantiated. The translated RTQ was given to 147 pre-service chemistry teachers from Department of Chemistry Education, Raja Ali Haji Maritime University, Indonesia. Data were analyzed using Rasch model method. Result indicated that the instrument and all 16 items nicely fit the Rasch model. The data also showed good reliability (Cronbach alpha .84). Result of this research also indicated that Understanding received the highest mean (17.70), followed by Critical Reflection (16.50), Reflection (16.48), and the lowest mean was Habitual Action (14.60). Non-parametric analysis was used because normal data distribution is not observed. Based on Wilcoxon Test result, significant difference between all subscales levels were detected, except for CR-R. Spearman Correlation result indicated that correlation between reflective thinking and GPA was not significant. Based on Mann-Whitney Test result, significant difference between 1st year and 4th year college students’ reflective thinking was only detected in CR. The implications relate to reflective thinking skill were discussed to improve the quality of learning process and its’ evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of Blended Learning (BL) and Project-Based Learning (Pj-BL) on the pre-service teachers’ creative thinking in learning biology. This type of research is a quasi-experimental study with 76 biology education students as research subjects. In its implementation, the experimental class was taught using the BL and Pj-BL approach, the control class is conventional class. The parameters are creative thinking with 4 indicators. Data was collected using pretest and posttest assessments. Data is presented and analyzed descriptively. The results of the study were overall the average score of creative thinking of pre-service teachers in the experimental class was 91 with an N-gain index of 0.62, higher than in the control class (76) with an N-gain index of 0.51. From the results, it could be concluded that Blended Learning and Project-Based Learning are quite influential in increasing the creative thinking ability of pre-service biology teachers, and BL and Pj-BL is quite more effective than conventional in increasing the pre-service teachers’ creative thinking in biology learning.

The purpose of this study was to determine the metacognitive skill levels and motivation of preservice chemistry teachers and to investigate the effect of different metacognitive skill levels on their motivation. The study was conducted during 2014-2015 spring semester. In this research, survey method was used to reveal the effect of different metacognitive skill levels on motivation. The population of this study was comprised of preservice chemistry teachers attending the faculty of education. The Chemistry Motivation Scale which was developed by Glynn, Brickman, Armstrong and Taasoobshirazi (2011) and adapted into Turkish by Şen and Yılmaz (2014) was applied to determine preservice chemistry teachers' motivation. The Metacognitive Activities Inventory (MCA-I) which was developed by Cooper and Sandi-Urena (2009) and adapted into Turkish by Temel, Dinçol and Yılmaz (2011) was applied to determine metacognitive skill levels. The results revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between preservice chemistry teachers grouped on the basis of differing levels of metacognitive skills on intrinsic motivation and self-determination.

Organic chemistry is a mandatory component of chemistry II and chemistry III within the curriculum for pre-service chemistry teachers (PSCTs) pursuing a degree in chemistry teaching. The organic chemistry course sequence is well recognized as challenging and unapproachable for students, despite its significant relevance and impact across several sectors. While efforts have been made to recognize and deal with challenges faced by students in the cognitive and psychomotor aspects, there has been less attention given to identifying PSCTs’ conceptual difficulties and misconceptions of organic chemistry. This includes the subsequent strategies to design instructions to enhance students’ learning experiences, which are crucial elements in addressing their achievements in organic chemistry. The study aimed to identify the conceptual difficulties and misconceptions encountered by PSCTs in organohalides and stereochemistry. Furthermore, the study aimed to suggest strategies to enhance PSCTs’ understanding of the course. The study was situated within the theoretical framework of constructivism and employed an interpretivist qualitative case study design. The population under study consisted of all individuals who were enrolled in the Bachelor of Education program within the faculty of educational sciences. A cohort of 33 whole-class PSCTs who had registered for the chemistry III course, where organohalides and stereochemistry were taught as units, were purposefully selected to participate in the study. The main instruments were document analysis, formal written tests, and interviews. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The study revealed that PSCTs encountered difficulties when attempting to solve problems related to organohalides and stereochemistry. In addition, PSCTs had misconceptions about these concepts. The study, therefore, recommends the implementation of suitable and appropriate instructional strategies to enhance PSCTs’ conceptual understanding and reduce misconceptions.

Pre-service teachers for secondary schools do not often perceive the academic content knowledge from their university teaching programme to be relevant for their future teaching profession. Hence, they lack motivation to learn those contents, which may have effect on their achievement. The aim of the study was, to develop a specific learning programme to enhance the perceived relevance of academic content knowledge. The learning programme was applied as an obligatory course for pre-service chemistry teachers with three 90-minute sessions and aimed to connect the academic content knowledge with the school-related content knowledge by structured content knowledge. The intervention study with a control group and a pre-post-test design to evaluated this approach involved N = 55 pre-service chemistry teachers (nintervention group = 23, ncontrol group = 32) and analysed the effects of this intervention on the perceived relevance of academic content knowledge. The results showed that pre-service chemistry teachers evaluate the academic course more likely to be relevant for their future profession already before the intervention took place. Nevertheless, compared to the control, the intervention showed a positive effect on the perceived relevance of academic content knowledge and the overall assessment of this academic course. Examining the explanations for the pre-service teachers’ perceived relevance revealed that they reasoned mainly from a school associated perspective, though their explanations remained at a rather low level.

The Effect of Learning Styles of Preservice Chemistry Teachers on Their Perceptions of Problem Solving Skills and Problem Solving Achievements

The Examination of Metacognitive Skill Levels and Usage of Learning Strategies of Preservice Chemistry Teachers

The purpose of this study was to improve preservice chemistry teachers' understanding of surface tension by using guided-inquiry activities. Ten preservice chemistry teachers participated in this study. Data were collected with open-ended questions on the effect of molecular weight, branching, and temperature on surface tension before and after guided-inquiry. The results indicated that most of the participants had difficulties in understanding surface tension and could not provide scientific explanations before the guided-inquiry activities. However, after the guided-inquiry activities, most of the participants were able to provide true or partially true responses and also to present scientific justifications in terms of the effect of molecular weight and the effect of branching on surface tension. Moreover, the study revealed that guided-inquiry activities immensely helped participants to understand the effect of temperature on surface tension, especially when compared to the effect of the other two factors. The study found that guided-inquiry activities improved the understanding of the preservice chemistry teachers about surface tension. In light of the results of this study, implications are stated for preservice chemistry teacher education and chemistry education researchers.

The Relationship between Pre-Service Teachers’ Self-Esteem and Emotional Intelligence Levels

This study discussed the recent application of Virtual Reality Technology (VRT) in an educational setting and self-face learning of chemistry in specific considering the need for an effective strategy in learning chemical concepts among the pre-service chemistry teachers in Nigeria. It highlighted some benefits of VRT to pre-service chemistry teachers who are faced with difficulty in content knowledge of teaching abstract chemistry concepts such organic structure, molecular structure, chemical reactions and stoichiometry through scrutinizing existing literature on VRT in chemistry. The paper further presented some empirical studies on VTR in resolving misconceptions among pre-service chemistry teachers in Nigeria. Some of the VRT benefits highlighted include; interactivity, immersability, and visualizability which are expected to enable the pre-service chemistry teacher to fully understand concepts better for effective and efficient chemistry instructional delivery after their graduation.

This study aims to analyze which teaching knowledge pieces on argumentation are mobilized by pre-service chemistry teachers in their teaching portfolio when those pre-service teachers have experienced a course in which teaching argumentation was explicit; the study also aims to evaluate the contributions of using the portfolio in forming future teachers’ knowledge on argumentation; lastly, what those contributions would be. A set of a priori categories and also categories emerging from our data were used to analyze the pre-service teachers’ portfolios. The results show that the pre-service teachers demonstrated teaching knowledge related to logical-structural aspects of argumentation, teaching strategies, and materials that support argumentation in the classroom. Moreover, they expressed reflective teaching knowledge on those elements, which all support the argumentation. The conclusions of this study suggest the expression of all this knowledge can be related to the combination of building portfolios with the explicit context of teaching training programmes throughout the entire course. In addition to the fact that the portfolios have had the potential to map argumentative teaching knowledge, they also offered support to the expression and development of knowledge on this topic.

Global issues that are sustainable in the industrial era 4.0, which requires universities to take part in the current Process, Input, Output and Outcome, one that is suitable for sustaining this project-based continuous learning is the educational approach which focuses on creative thinking, problem solving, and interaction between students and peers to create and use knowledge in the current digital era. This study aims to determine the effect of Project Based Learning (PjBL) continuous learning innovations on English learning outcomes of students of the faculty of cultural sciences English Education study programs at Brawijaya University Malang. This research method uses experimental design with the Times-Series Design with Control Group. Data analysis of this study used the one way ANOVA test. The results showed that the treatment of the TOEFL test, namely the pre-test and post-test in the control class and the experimental class in the Project Based Learning (PjBL) learning model there were differences. The average pre-test toefl score in the experimental class was 344.71 with a range of values ranging from 300-397 and a standard deviation of 29.386. The average post-test toefl score in the experimental class, which is 360.83 with a range of values ranging from 303-400 and a standard deviation of 24.146. Project Based Learning (PjBL) based learning can improve student learning outcomes, the p-value on PjBL is 0.026.

This study investigates pre-service chemistry teachers' knowledge, use, and perceptions of AI technology integration in education. Using a survey design, data were collected from pre-service chemistry teachers enrolled in a professional teacher education program. The findings reveal varying levels of AI knowledge, with a majority having sufficient understanding but 20% demonstrating low knowledge. Social media emerged as the primary source of AI information. Participants generally felt confident using AI tools, though usage frequency varied. The study underscores the need for comprehensive AI education in teacher training programs to enhance future educators' AI literacy and integration skills. The results highlight the importance of ethical considerations and balanced AI usage to foster critical and creative thinking in educational practices. Recommendations include integrating practical AI applications, ethical considerations, and strategies for critical engagement with AI into teacher education programs to prepare pre-service teachers for future technological advancements in education.