The Potential of RICOSRE to Enhance University Students’ Science Literacy in Biology

Abstract

Twenty-first-century skills encompass science literacy, competencies, and character qualities. Science literacy is one of the basic literacy skills that play a significant role in modern society, where people have to deal with advanced science and technology. Science literacy can be promoted in university students through learning. RICOSRE is a learning model that can be used to develop university students' science literacy. The current study aimed to investigate the potential of RICOSRE to enhance university students' science literacy through a comprehensive study of 1) the improvement of the students' science literacy during the process of learning using RICOSRE, and 2) the effect of RICOSRE on the students' science literacy. A concurrent embedded mixed methods design was employed in this study. The students' science literacy was assessed using an essay test on Protist and a science literacy rubric. The qualitative data analysis was performed descriptively based on the results of the pretest, mid-test, and post-test, while the quantitative data analysis was carried out using the Wilcoxon's non-parametric test in a one group pretest-post-test design. The results of the study showed that 1) the students' score improved by 21.37% from the pretest to the mid-test and 13.27% from the mid-test to the post-test; 2) RICOSRE had an effect on the students' science literacy with a significance level of 0.000 < 0.05. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that RICOSRE learning model can be applied to empower university students' science literacy.

Protist literacy: A novel concept of protist learning in higher education

“…The advancement of science and technology is significantly impacted by students' scientific literacy, which serves as a foundational element in the growth of a scientific community (Čipková et al, 2018). The development of scientific literacy can be enhanced through the study of protists (Mahanal et al, 2020).…”

“…Protist literacy is a prerequisite for comprehension of organismal issues in daily life. Protist literacy is crucial as it enables college students to comprehend protists and effectively utilize protist-related concepts to address everyday situations with protists (Mahanal et al, 2020). Understanding protist organisms is crucial for human survival in the future (Merlo et al, 2021).…”

Biology Students' Science Literacy Level on Genetic Concepts

“…In learning biology, scientific literacy is needed to develop an attitude of science in Biology learning and apply it in life, have a scientific attitude and use it to solve problems in Biology that have an impact on life and develop creativity to dig deeper into the role of science in Biology (Nwagbo, 2006;Berman & Kuden, 2017;Mahanal et al, 2020). Scientific literacy also facilitates mastery of the concept of knowledge in a systematic way to study natural phenomena and make the right decisions according to the knowledge they have.…”