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6th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE 2019) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1567 (2020) 042025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1567/4/042025

The effectiveness of Inquiry-based learning to train students’

thinking skill based on SOLO taxonomy

I Damopolii1*, J H Nunaki1, E Nusantari2 and N Y Kandowangko2

1
Jurusan Pendidikan Biologi, Universitas Papua, Jl. Gunung Salju Amban, Manokwari
98314, Indonesia
2
Jurusan Biologi, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Jl. Jendral Sudirman No. 6, Gorontalo
96128, Indonesia
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract. The aimed of the research was analyzed the effectiveness of IBL (inquiry-based
learning) device for training thinking skills of students based on SOLO taxonomy. The research
was a part of research and development with the application of used one group pretest-posttest
design. Research participant included 88 grade X student taken from senior high school in
Manokwari. Collected of data used an achievement test to measure thinking skills was used a
rubric SOLO taxonomy with five levels. Wilcoxon test was used for data analysis. It is revealed
that sig. 0.000 < 0.05, 64 students experienced an increased level of thinking, 24 students were
ties, and no students decrease in the level of thinking. Based on findings data, inquiry-based
learning applications to train the thinking skills of learners is effective.

1. Introduction
School is one of the places aside from home which is substantial for the formal development of children
[1]. The young people’s interest in natural science has been declined in the last decade [2]. Hence, future
study should focus on using an active method to encourage students to become creative, to properly
understand knowledge, and to bring them closer to the real-life experience. The design of the learning
environment for science education is heavily influenced by two types of study, inquiry-based science
learning, and constructivism [3]. The effectiveness of teaching, science-concept mastery and the
improvement of student skills is influenced by types and number of inquiry-based learning applied
during in the class by the teacher [4]. when students engage in direct observation and group discussion
in the class based on inquiry learning, it is making them motivated and interested in learning [5]. The
students have potentials to develop a conceptual understanding from inquiry-based activities [6]. Review
of 72 studies carried out by Lazonder & Harmsen [7] consistently point out that IBL is more effective
than other learning as long as students received appropriate supports. The thinking skills can be
accommodated through constructivism-based learning [8]. The inquiry learning is constructivism-based
learning and is useful in harnessing students’ thinking skills [9].
Within the constructivism approach, the strategy to obtain something is more important than the
amount of knowledge obtained or remembered by students. Learning should encourage the students to
think critically toward the problem in learning. The teacher should be able to observe and measure their
students’ critical thinking ability. Learning should be able to enhance learner critical thinking skills [10].
Thinking skill is one crucial skill that needs to be improving in the 21st century. In Indonesia, the
measurement of students’ thinking skill has extensively been done in the area of high-level reasoning,
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6th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE 2019) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1567 (2020) 042025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1567/4/042025

creative thinking, logical thinking, and critical thinking. Most of the reasoning/thinking ability measured
are still using instruments, which refer to the Bloom Taxonomy level of questions from C1-C6. There
is also one skill that often measured by researchers in Indonesia namely, thinking skill based on SOLO
taxonomy level.
Thinking skill has been extensively studied in Indonesia, especially in mathematics learning [11,12].
The SOLO taxonomy is developed to be used in all level of subjects, not only in mathematics but also
in other areas of science and computer science [13]. This SOLO taxonomy can also be used to measure
students’ cognitive achievement in various subjects, school levels, and types of tasks, in the subject of
computer science, mathematics, chemistry, biology, sociology, dental education, and language study
[14–18]. The SOLO taxonomy is specifically used to measure the thinking ability and evaluation of
learners [19]. SOLO taxonomy can be implemented within the class in different subjects, either those
oriented toward process or those who are conceptually oriented. The teacher uses SOLO taxonomy to
design, recognize, describe and learning assessment in various level of cognitive difficulties in fulfilling
high expectancy and coherence for the purpose of developing curriculum and attainment standard [20].
The SOLO taxonomy is considerably effective to be used within the learning program and during the
teaching and learning process [21].
The above studies reveal that inquiry-based learning correlates with students’ thinking skill. Thus,
the utilization of IBL in the biology subject is effective to train the level of thinking of the students. To
create IBL in biology, a valid and effective teaching device based on inquiry learning model needs to
be created to improve students’ thinking skill. Development of learning by providing an inquiry-based
approach is important as it can help students to think and discover [22,23]. Damopolii et al [24] in their
study suggest the utilization of IBL to train students’ thinking skill [24]. The problem that would be
addressed in this study is how the development of an effective teaching device to improve the thinking
skill of the students in biology learning? The focus of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of the
teaching device, which oriented on inquiry learning to train the students’ thinking skill based on the
level of SOLO taxonomy.
2. Methods
This is a research and development (R&D) model using a 4-D model adopted from Thiagarajan [25].
This model consists of four stage, that is define, design, develop, and disseminate stages. This study has
been carried out for two consecutive years, and in this article, the result from the initial year study is
presented to analyze the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning teaching device on the development
stage. In this development stage, the stage in the learning device has been revised based on input from
experts and following the result of the trials. The trial uses a group pre-test and post-test design to see
the improvement of students’ thinking skill.
This research conducted using three classes of science of a public high school in Manokwari. The
total subject in this study involved 88 students. They were grouped into three groups (Group 1 = 34
students; group 2 = 27 students; and group 3 = 27 students). All of the students in these classes were
taught using the teaching device with inquiry-based learning.
The instruments used are a lesson plan, student worksheets, achievement test, and student book.
Achievement test consists of 9-essay item test. Prior to the implementation step, three experts were
validating the instrument. These instruments can be used if the following criteria are fulfilled [26]:
Table 1. Validity Criteria
Range of percentage Validity Criteria Note
85.00 < % ≥100.00 Strongly Valid The instruments are used without revision
70.00 < % ≤ 85.00 Valid The instruments are used with minor revision
50.00 < % ≤ 70.00 Less Valid The instruments are used with major revision
% ≤ 50.00 Not Valid The instruments are unusable

2
6th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE 2019) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1567 (2020) 042025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1567/4/042025

A rubric from SOLO taxonomy level as presented in Table 2 below is used to measure the thinking skill
of the students. This rubric is used to analyze students’ answer and will be coded 1-5 based on the level
of students’ answer.
Table 2. Rubric of SOLO taxonomy level
SOLO
Taxonomy Characteristics Code
Level
P = Pre- - A learner does not understand the material; learner does not understand 1
structural the task/question. Thus, they cannot appropriately answer the task;
they are even unable to answer the question.
U = Uni- - A learner can describe a relevant concept/fact. 2
structural - A learner only uses one information; hence, the task/question is simply
accomplished without any further explanation.
M = Multi- - A learner can describe in detail more than one fact/concept, the learner 3
structural can work on the task/question by utilizing two or more information,
and can determine more than one ways to accomplish/answer the
task/question correctly.
R = Relational- A learner can describe more than one facts/concept, describe the 4
correlation among various facts/concepts, a learner can accomplish
task/question by making a correlation of several ways to accomplish
the task.
EA = Extended- A learner can describe various possible answers, provide several new 5
abstract solutions outside the concept that has been taught, a learner can
construct a new concept outside the given concept.
(Adopted from Biggs & Collis and Mahmood et. al[14,20])
Data analysis are in the percentage of achievement in each SOLO taxonomy level. Wilcoxon test is
used to see the increase of students’ thinking skill in SOLO taxonomy level. The increased of thinking
skills of learner see from their pretest and posttest. The criteria indicate that if p < 0.05, the students’
thinking skill is increased. On the other hand, if p > 0.05, there is no significant increase in student
thinking skill. The IBM SPSS version 22 for windows is used in data analysis.
3. Results and Discussion
Research instrument validation is presented before the IBL effectiveness in increasing students’ thinking
skill is analyzed. Experts validate the developed instrument. In addition, focus group discussion (FGD)
is also held to have a similar perception with the validator. The table 3 is presented validation result.
Table 3. The result validation by expert
Teaching device Result Criteria
Lesson plan 97.69% Valid
Student worksheet 93.52% Valid
Student book 87.01% Valid
Achievement test 95.83% Valid

The validation result by three experts in Table 3 shows that all developed instruments meet the validity
criteria and can be used in the classroom trial. The score of thinking skill before (pretest) and after
(posttest) the treatment using IBL teaching device is presented in Figure 1.

3
6th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE 2019) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1567 (2020) 042025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1567/4/042025

0%
Pretest 4.55% 62.50% 32.95% 0%

Posttest 1.14% 27.72% 50% 25% 1.14%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

P U M R EA

Figure 1. Increasing students’ thinking skill graph in each level of SOLO taxonomy

Figure 1 depicts that before learning is implemented, students’ thinking skill is only on the multi-
structural level. In addition, 4.55% is on the pre-structural level, 62.50% is on the uni-structural level,
and 32.95% is on the multi-structural level. These data show that students’ thinking skill is still low.
There are 70.05% of students whose thinking skill is between the pre-structural to uni-structural level.
Following the implementation of the IBL teaching device, students’ thinking skill increase. There is
only 3.41% whose thinking skill is on the pre-structural level and 39.78% whose thinking skill is on the
uni-structural level. In addition, the percentage of students whose thinking skill is on a multi-structural
level increases by 17.05%. In addition, the percentage of students whose thinking skill is not under the
relational level has increased to 25% within that level due to the implementation of the IBL teaching
device. Only a small portion of students that can reach the extended abstract level. Overall, Figure 1
shows that IBL can train students’ thinking skill into an extended abstract level in SOLO taxonomy
level.
The result of this study is slightly different from the result of a study by [27] that most of SOLO
taxonomy level is in pre-structural, multi-structural, and relational level, whereas only small portion of
it is on the extended abstract level. In this study, most of the SOLO taxonomy level is on uni structural,
multi-structural, and relational level.
On the other hand, Vrachnos & Jimoyiannis [28] in their study found that most students tend to
provide responses in the lower level of SOLO, namely pre-structural, uni-structural, and multi-structural
levels [28]. The study reveals that students are able to reach relational and extended abstract levels when
the class is taught using IBL; thus, students’ thinking skill properly develop. Further, to prove a
significant increase in students’ thinking skill, the data in Table 4 below present the analysis of the
Wilcoxon test.
Table 4. Wilcoxon test
N % Mean Rank Z Sig.
a b
Negative Ranks 0 0% .00 -7.941 0.000
Posttest – Positive Ranks 64b 73 % 32.50
Pretest Ties 24c 27 %
Total 88 100 %
Based on Table 4 above, it is proven that there is a significant improve in the students’ thinking skill
which shown by the value of P < 0.05. Table 4 shows that 73% of the students experience an increase
of thinking skill, while 27% of them do not experience an increase in thinking skill. However, there are
no students whose thinking skill decrease in IBL. Overall, it can be said that IBL can effectively increase
students’ thinking skill.
The result of this study corresponds to the result a seen in Jimoyiannis [29] that the SOLO taxonomy
level only reaches to the rational level. He defines designing teaching instruction as an effort to assist
students in reaching the SOLO taxonomy level. Therefore, we design IBL to assist students in achieving
SOLO taxonomy level. Regardless of the result of our study that only 1.14% of learners that can reach
the highest SOLO taxonomy level, extended abstract level. We would argue that when students learn,

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6th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE 2019) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1567 (2020) 042025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1567/4/042025

they are able to think higher. Students’ thinking is correlated with their cognitive. The result of his
research shows there are no students who experience a decrease in their thinking skill during the
administration of IBL teaching device. On the contrary, 73% of the students experience an increase in
their thinking skill. It indicates that the developed teaching device can train high school students’ thinking
skill, especially for biology subject.
The developed IBL Teaching device demands students to be actively involved in a group investigation
activity, where they are presented with problems to be solved. Hence, they discuss their problem at hands.
When students are actively involved in experiment and discussion, it makes their thinking skill and
teamwork skill increase [30]. One of the developed teaching devices is the student book. This students
book is designed using IBL and to ease the implementation of IBL. 100 % of the students are interested
in reading the inquiry teaching materials [31], and they agree to use IBL in Biology lesson [32]. Teaching
material helps students to accomplish the inquiry stages of finding the answer, and it helps develop their
thinking skills [33].
The developed teaching device consists of student worksheet, lesson plan, and student book, which
complement each other for the success of the implementation of IBL. The success of this research is
signified by the significant increase in students’ thinking skill after the implementation of IBL.
Utilization of IBL has a good chance to increase students’ thinking skill. When students are oriented
toward problems at the initial stage of IBL, they are demanded to create a formula and propose a
hypothesis. This is the beginning for students to train their thinking skill up to when they discover the
result of their inquiry, they start to make a correlation between the concept that they currently have and
the concept they will discover. This connecting activity is a part of the rational level characteristic from
SOLO taxonomy. In the beginning, students are unable to make a connection (evident from the pre-test
answer), and during the post-test, they are able to make the connection.
IBL is a constructivism learning theory. When IBL is set in the class, students are demanded to be
able to connect their existing knowledge with their newly discovered knowledge to create new
knowledge. This is in line with the characteristic of extended abstract level in SOLO taxonomy. Even
though there is only a small number of students who are able to reach this level, our argument stands that
IBL can train students thinking skill. This needs a complete design in the future to increase the number
of students who are able to reach this extended abstract level of thinking in SOLO taxonomy. The teacher
can design an IBL learning to train his/her students’ thinking skill.
4. Conclusion
This study concludes that the developed teaching device is effective to train students’ thinking skill
based on the level of SOLO taxonomy. Overall, 73% of the students’ thinking skill is increased. In this
study, students’ thinking skill are spread all over the level of SOLO taxonomy, from pre-structural to
the extended abstract. Most of students’ thinking skill are on multi-structural and relational levels. This
study is limited to the lack of students who are able to achieve the extended abstract level of thinking
based on taxonomy of SOLO. The result of this study can be used as a baseline for further stage study.
Better planning is needed to implement the next stage of the research by using control class as a
comparison. It is also expected that the classroom teacher can design an IBL class to develop his/her
students thinking skill
Acknowledgments
We are grateful for the contribution of KEMENRISTEKDIKTI for funding this research through the
PKPT grant scheme 2018-2019.
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6th International Conference on Mathematics, Science, and Education (ICMSE 2019) IOP Publishing
Journal of Physics: Conference Series 1567 (2020) 042025 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1567/4/042025

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