Cultivating 21st Century Skills (6Cs) of SMPN 23 Pekanbaru Students through a STEM Project Suryawati E (a)*, Rahmi FO (b), Elviana T (c), Pohan C (d), Syafrinal (e), Harfal Z (f)
a) Department of Biology Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Riau, Indonesia
b,c) Post Graduate Study, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Riau, Indonesia
d) Junior High School 23rd Pekanbaru, Indonesia
e) Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Riau, Indonesia
f) Department of English Language Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education,
Universitas Riau, Indonesia
Abstract
A pilot project of STEM-based learning has been carried out at SMPN 23 Pekanbaru. This study was carried out with the aim of cultivating students^ higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) as referred to 21st-century skillset (the 6Cs, creative, critical, computational thinking, collaborative, communicative, character), and the demands of an independent learning curriculum. Needs analysis showed the students^ higher-order thinking skills were still low with an average of 56.21%. Therefore, it was necessary to make efforts to enhance thinking skills through innovative learning activities, such as the implementation of STEM projects. The selected STEM project was on the topic of the excretory system where student designed and built a miniature haemodialysis machine. It took place in class VIII G, with 37 students divided into eight groups. In conducting the project, four school teachers (science, mathematics, arts, and ICT) formed a teaching team. Collaboratively, the teachers planned, implemented, and reflected on learning guided by FKIP UNRI lecturers and technical assistants (postgraduate students). The implementation of learning through PjBL was carried out in stages including reflection, research, discovery, application, and communication. During the learning process, students tried and worked enthusiastically on group assignments. The implementation results has shown that a pleasant learning environment encourages students to fully focus on learning activities. Students collaborated and participated actively in learning activities, thus students understood the concept of blood washing and how the hasemodialysis machine worked. Students believed they had gained a great deal of new knowledge and were more enthusiastic about learning science.
Keywords: 21st Century Skills, PjBL, STEM, Haemodialysis
