The Profile of High School Students’ Reflective Judgment and Argumentation Skills in Biology

Abstract

Critical thinking skills are one of the 21st-century skills and a basis to form a reflective judgment and argumentation on an issue. The aim of this study was to determine the profile of reflective judgment and argumentation skills of high school students in biology learning. The subjects of this study were students of SMAN 2 Tasikmalaya. 288 Grade-10 students were involved as sample who examined by purposive sampling technique. The instrument was a descriptive test which comprised of 2 questions about issue of burning waste and a rice field project on peatlands. Analysis of the test results was carried out descriptive quantitative. The results showed that the reflective judgment and argumentation skills was still low with the mean of students' reflective judgment skills in the non-appearing category of 34.38%, 47.22% pre-reflective, 12.15% quasi-reflective, and 6.25% reflective. The average written argumentation skills of students were level 0 (3.47%), level 1 (58%), level 2 (33.33%), and level 3 (5.21%). Students' reflective judgment and argumentation skills need to be trained and accustomed to the biology learning process used appropriate learning models or strategies.