Analysis of high school students’ mental model on bacteria concept: representation of students' conceptions

Abstract

Mental model is an internal representation formed by individuals in explaining a concept. Previous research on mental models of bacteria concept has been carried out on university students, but has not been carried out on high school students. The purpose of this study was to analyze the mental model of high school students about bacteria using drawing-writing tests and concept map. This study uses a descriptive method with 30 students of class X in one high school in Bandung as respondents. Students' answers are then compared with the expert's mental model as the targeted mental model. Students' mental models through the drawing-writing test are categorized into five levels (levels 1-5), namely no pictures/writing, pictures/writings are wrong or irrelevant, pictures/writings are partially correct, pictures/writings have some errors, pictures/writings correct and complete. Students' mental models through concept maps are categorized into four levels (levels 1-4), namely emergent, transitional, close to extended, extended. The results showed that it was easier for students to represent the structure and reproduction of bacteria through pictures than writing. The students' mental models through drawing (D) and writing (W) were highest at levels D5 and W5 for the concept of bacteria structure and reproduction. The most dominant mental model level is D4/W2 for the concept of bacteria structure and reproduction. The lowest studentss’ mental model is D2/W2 for the concept of bacterial structure and D1/W1 for the concept of bacterial reproduction. Students' mental models through concept maps show that the highest level is level 3 (close to extended). The most dominant and lowest level of mental model is level 1 (emergent). The conclusion of this study shows that the mental model of students on bacteria was still not close to the mental model of experts.