This paper presents the results of a two-year research project aimed at developing a teacher professional development (TPD) model in Indonesia. New government policies in this nation, its archipelagic nature, vast numbers of teachers and scarcity of support resources present a unique challenge to TPD. A needs assessment was conducted to identify teachers’ professional needs. Based on the results of this assessment, a dual-mode TPD that combines face-to-face sessions and online sessions was developed. Participation in face-to-face sessions was relatively high but the participation rate in online sessions was very low. Incentives, teachers’ autonomy as professional learners, ICT skills and infrastructure are important considerations when designing TPD in Indonesia. This study and an analysis of TPD policy allow us to suggest future directions for TPD in Indonesia.

Both students and teachers have misconceptions about Force and Motion, often caused by teachers not being well-prepared to teach the accepted scientific theory. Besides, teachers rarely or never use a cognitive conflict strategy in their teaching. The present study is aimed at investigating the...

Promoting the implementation of education for sustainable development (ESD) in schools is necessary to educate future generations about sustainability. In cases where ESD is integrated into science lessons or ESD has to be taught by science teachers, science teachers have to integrate ESD teaching competencies with their science teaching competencies. The absence of an instrument to assess science teacher competencies to teach ESD makes it difficult for schools to assign the right science teacher to teach ESD or to support science teachers to integrate ESD into their lessons. This study aims to develop an instrument for measuring science teacher competencies to teach ESD. The instrument was developed by combining frameworks of science teacher competencies and ESD teacher competencies issued by several countries and ESD teacher competencies proposed by Okayama University ESD Promotion Center. A four-scale questionnaire comprising 96 statements was developed to assess seven competencies, i.e., content knowledge, content pedagogy, inquiry, professional practice, professional development, assessment and evaluation, and attitude. The instrument was tested on 234 science teachers nationwide, consisting of 166 females and 68 males from different schools, teaching years, and educational levels. The results show that the Cronbach’s alpha of the instrument is 0.99 (very good category), person reliability 0.96 (good category), and item reliability 0.67 (fairly good category). Based on explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis, six competency dimensions are identified. The score of explanatory factor analysis based on Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) was 0.966 and the significance on Bartlett’s test of sphericity was 0.00. This means that there are significant correlations among the items. This suggests that the instrument is suitable to identify science teachers’ competencies as indicators of their readiness to teach ESD.

Laboratory activities and constructivism are two notions that have been playing significant roles in science education. Despite common beliefs about the importance of laboratory activities, reviews reported inconsistent results about the effectiveness of laboratory activities. Since laboratory activities can be expensive and take more time, there is an effort to introduce virtual laboratory activities. This study aims at exploring the learning environment created by a virtual laboratory and a real laboratory. A quasi experimental study was conducted at two grade ten classes at a state high school in Bandung, Indonesia. Data were collected using a questionnaire called Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) before and after the laboratory activities. The results show that both types of laboratories can create constructivist learning environments. Each type of laboratory activity, however, may be stronger in improving certain aspects compared to the other. While a virtual laboratory is stronger in improving critical voice and personal relevance, real laboratory activities promote aspects of personal relevance, uncertainty and student negotiation. This study suggests that instead of setting one type of laboratory against the other, lessons and follow up studies should focus on how to combine both types of laboratories to support better learning.

A professional teacher is a teacher who masters professional knowledge and skills. Increasing their professionalism is needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research attempts to analyze the effectiveness of teacher training programs in environmental education that focus on identifying the challenges and strategy for the future training program. The research method was triangulation, combining quantitative and qualitative data analysis, including document analysis, questionnaire, and interview results. Sixty-five teachers with experience in environmental education were surveyed, and seven were interviewed. The results show that the sustainability context (environmental, economic, and sociocultural dimensions) needs to be embedded into environmental education teacher training. All training materials are currently oriented toward the environmental context. The provided training focuses on imparting knowledge on environmental education and has not yet expanded to include raising awareness or fostering sustainable action. As a result, future teacher programs must emphasize not only knowledge, but also awareness and action to attain sustainability. Schools and other relevant parties must fully support the rollout of the teacher-training initiative.

This study is intended to examine the development and validation of simple machines instructional material that developed based on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) framework that provides guidance to help students learn and practice for real life and enable individuals to use knowledge and skills they need to be an informed citizen. Sample of this study consist of one class of 8th grader at a junior secondary school in Bandung, Indonesia. To measure student learning, a pre-test and post-test were given before and after implementation of the STEM based instructional material. In addition, a questionnaire of readability was given to examine the clarity and difficulty level of each page of instructional material. A questionnaire of students’ response towards instructional material given to students and teachers at the end of instructional material reading session to measure layout aspects, content aspects and utility aspects of instructional material for being used in the junior secondary school classroom setting. The results show that readability aspect and students’ response towards STEM based instructional material of STEM based instructional material is categorized as very high. Pretest and posttest responses revealed that students retained significant amounts information upon completion of the STEM instructional material. Student overall learning gain is 0.67 which is categorized as moderate. In summary, STEM based instructional material that was developed is valid enough to be used as educational materials necessary for conducting effective STEM education.