Application of Popular Scientific Books to Improve Student’s Scientific Literacy

Abstract

Students' low interest in scientific literacy is mainly due to the result-oriented practice of science learning, placing the learning material as a subject without bridging the relationship between the material and the context of everyday life. In addition, learning resources that can be used by students to facilitate their understanding of complex science topics are still limited. This research conducted to describe the effectiveness of using popular scientific books to promote students in increasing their interest and scientific literacy. Scientific literacy is the capability to conclude scientific conclusions and solve issues related to science through a scientific-based idea and thinking reflectively. The criteria of evaluation for scientific literacy skills consist of inter-correlated dimension; context, knowledge, competency, and attitude. Data collection techniques are observation, tests, and questionnarie. The research indicated that (1) implementation of popular scientific books as reading sources obtained a positive response from students, and (2) students' scientific literacy skills increased, indicated by N-gain criteria in the medium to high categories. These findings concluded that the application of popular scientific books is effective in increasing students' interest and their scientific literacy skills.