Mimien Henie Irawati Al Muhdhar

Improving critical thinking skills through the integration of problem based learning and group investigation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to improve the critical thinking of biology students of STKIP Hamzanwadi Selong on an environment course through the implementation of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Group Investigation (GI) through Lesson Study. Design/methodology/approach – This study employed a descriptive qualitative method. The subjects of the study were 73 freshmen biology students academic year 2013/2014 who were divided into two classes. The Lesson Study was conducted in 16 cycles, comprising Plan, Do, and See stages. The instrument of the study used to measure the students’ critical thinking was an essay test which covered several criteria of critical thinking adapted from SOLO Taxonomy. Findings – The implementation of PBL and GI encouraged the students to think critically through planning, arguing, stating questions and problems, and analysing and providing solutions to the surrounding environmental problems. Originality/value – This study depicted Lesson Study activity on an environment...

Study of ethnobotany of medicinal plant of Tobelo Dalam (Togutil) ethnic group of Halmahera Island, Indonesia

The world population, especially in developing countries, depends on medicinal plants for basic health treatment. In Indonesia, 55.3% people uses traditional herb for their health treatment and 95.6% admits that traditional herb used is valuable for their health. Obelo Dalam (Togutil) ethnic group is one of remote ethnic groups in Indonesia practicing traditional medicinal treatment using medicinal plants. Until now, there is no specific identification on the medicinal plants used by the ethnic group. Information on medicinal plants used by nomadic and sedentary communities of Tobelo Dalam (Togutil) was collected through direct contact semi-structured interview with key informants and group discussion. Determination of main informants was conducted using purposive sampling technique and snowball sampling was used to determine the key informants. Result of study revealed that the nomadic community of Tobelo Dalam (Togutil) ethnic group used 36 species of medicinal plants that belonged to 22 families for medicinal treatment to maintain their basic health; whereas, the sedentary community of the group use 57 species of medicinal plants that belonged to 35 families.