PROFILE OF MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE DISEASE

Abstract

<span lang="IN">The concept of disease is taught at every level of education in Indonesia, but we found some discontinuity. Disjointed and not mutually sustainable concepts cause students’ understanding to be suboptimal. One example of a sustainable concept was the learning progression (L</span><span lang="EN-US">ea</span><span lang="IN">P) about the concept of disease proposed by the National Research Council (NRC). This study was aimed to test and find out: 1) The validity of the L</span><span lang="EN-US">ea</span><span lang="IN">P instrument about the concept of disease, 2) The grades </span><span lang="EN-US">7^th</span><span lang="IN"> and </span><span lang="EN-US">8^th </span><span lang="IN">students’ understanding towards the concept of disease. 296 students of grades </span><span lang="EN-US">7^th</span><span lang="IN"> and </span><span lang="EN-US">8^th </span><span lang="IN">from four public </span><span lang="EN-US">middle</span><span lang="IN"> schools in Surakarta were selected as the samples. The school samples were selected purposively, while the students and classes were selected based on the recommendation by the teacher. The ex post facto quantitative non-experimental was used as the research method. The instrument was produced according to the L</span><span lang="EN-US">ea</span><span lang="IN">P scheme proposed by NRC (2007). The instrument was an Ordered Multiple Choice (OMC) test with multiple choice levels. Data were collected using tests, interviews, and documentation. The results showed: 1) The instrument items was valid with very high reliability, 2). The instrument difficulty level and distinguishing power need to be improved, 3) Grades </span><span lang="EN-US">7^th</span><span lang="IN"> and </span><span lang="EN-US">8^th </span><span lang="IN">students who have level 3 understanding were ranged </span><span lang="IN">from 37% to 39.62%.</span>