Pengaruh Modeling Based Learning terhadap Keterampilan Berpikir Mekanistik Siswa pada Materi Perpindahan Panas Secara Konveksi

Abstract

Physics instruction still faces challenges in helping students explain the mechanisms underlying a phenomenon. Students tend to understand the final outcome of a phenomenon without connecting it to the processes occurring at the microscopic level. Modeling Based Learning (MBL) is an instructional model that can help students build understanding through activities involving the creation, testing, and refinement of models. This study aims to analyze the effect of MBL on students’ mechanistic thinking skills and to analyze the development of indicators of mechanistic thinking skills in the topic of heat transfer by convection. This study employed a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were collected through pretest and posttest assessments, while qualitative data were gathered from worksheets, observations, and discussion transcripts, which were analyzed descriptively based on seven indicators of mechanistic thinking skills. The results of the study indicate that the implementation of MBL has an impact on students’ mechanistic thinking skills. During the learning process, students’ abilities developed gradually, starting from describing phenomena to explaining cause and effect relationships through chaining. The MBL stages helped students connect macroscopic phenomena with microscopic mechanisms, although some students still had difficulty fully explaining the relationships between entities. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that Modeling-Based Learning can help develop students’ mechanistic thinking skills regarding heat transfer by convection