Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang, East Java, Indonesia JPBI (Jurnal Pendidikan Biologi Indonesia) p-ISSN 2442-3750, e-ISSN 2537-6204 // Vol. 7 No. 3 November 2021, pp. 267-274 10.22219/jpbi.v7i3.16392 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/jpbi jpbi@umm.ac.id 267 Research Article Vocational students’ HOTS and HOTSEP overview in developing ITA learning model Ana Amalia Islami a,1,*, Henita Rahmayanti a,b,2, Tuti Iriani a,3, Ilmi Zajuli Ichsan c,4, Isil Koc d,5, Rahmawati Darussyamsu e,6 a Department of Technology and Vocational Education, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Rawamangun Muka St., Jakarta 13220, Indonesia b Department of Environmental Education, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Rawamangun Muka St., Jakarta 13220, Indonesia c Elementary Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Science, Universitas Mohammad Husni Thamrin, East Jakarta 13550, Indonesia d Department of Science Education, Istanbul University, Beyazıt, 34452 Fatih, İstanbul, Turkey e Department of Biology Education, Universitas Negeri Padang, Jl. Prof. Dr. Hamka, Padang, Sumatera Barat 25171, Indonesia 1 anaamaliaislami3@gmail.com*; 2 henita.rahmayanti@unj.ac.id; 3 t_iriani@yahoo.com; 4 ilmizajuli95@outlook.com; 5 isilkoc@istanbul.edu.tr; 6 rahmabio@fmipa.unp.ac.id * Corresponding author INTRODUCTION All objects and phenomena that enable the learning process for students are defined as learning resources (Abidinsyah et al., 2019; Ho & Yao, 2018; Lewinsohn et al., 2014; Mon et al., 2016). The environment is one of them. This environment can affect all aspects of learning, especially students. When students take advantage of the environment as a learning resource, they will understand the material better. They can also experience meaningful learning because they directly experience real situations or events. Utilization of the environment in the learning process becomes interesting because it is contextual (Madhuri et A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history Received, 25 April 2021 Revised, 16 June 2021 Accepted, 30 June 2021 Published, 29 November 2021 Practical learning activities carried out in remote situations during the COVID-19 pandemic triggered vocational students to take advantage of the surrounding environment as a learning resource. The process also determines how their HOTS and HOTSEP are. A learning model that can accommodate the skills is needed, such as ITA (Identify problems–Think and write–Analysis and argumentation) model. This learning model utilizes environmental issues intending to guide students to understand the environment through an online platform. This study aimed to analyze the HOTS and HOTSEP of vocational students, as the basis for developing a new learning model. The research sample consisted of 61 students with 29 male students and 32 female students. The sample was selected by simple random sampling. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. The results showed that the total scores of students' HOTS (17.14) and HOTSEP (18.74) were suggested as very low categories. Thus, the students' skills need to improve actively with innovative learning models, such as the application of the ITA model. Copyright © 2021, Islami et al This is an open-access article under the CC–BY-SA license Keywords HOTS HOTSEP ITA learning model Vocational students How to cite: Islami, A.A., Rahmayanti, H., Iriani, T., Ichsan, I.Z., Koc, I., & Darussyamsu, R. (2021). Vocational students’ HOTS and HOTSEP overview using ITA learning model. JPBI (Jurnal Pendidikan Biologi Indonesia), 7(3), 267-274. https://doi.org/10.22219/jpbi.v7i3.16392 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/ http://u.lipi.go.id/1422867894 http://u.lipi.go.id/1460300524 https://doi.org/10.22219/jpbi.v7i3.16392 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/jpbi mailto:jpbi@umm.ac.id mailto:t_iriani@yahoo.com https://doi.org/10.22219/jpbi.v7i3.16392 JPBI (Jurnal Pendidikan Biologi Indonesia) Vol. 7, No. 3, November 2021, pp. 267-274 268 Islami et al (Vocational students’ HOTS and HOTSEP … ) al., 2012; Taurina, 2015). Especially during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, appropriate learning innovations are urgently needed (Cutri et al., 2020; Kidd & Murray, 2020; O’Brien et al., 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the ongoing learning process that occurred for students in Indonesia, including vocational students. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, they were able to do practical work directly. However, after the pandemic, all learning activities must be done online. This is explained in the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 33 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of the Disaster Safe Education Unit Program. Learning activities are carried out by providing protection and safety for students, educators, and education staff from disaster risk and ensuring the continuity of education services in disaster-affected educational units. Therefore, practical activities must also be carried out online. To facilitate these activities, the use of the environment around students is the best choice to do. Utilization of students' surrounding environment as a learning resource provides benefits but also challenges. Teachers must be able to choose appropriate phenomena for learning, such as environmental problems. The most common environmental issue is the accumulation of waste. The habit of using single-use products affects the accumulation of waste, both biodegradable and non-biodegradable. Lack of waste management has an impact on environmental pollution. On the other hand, human behavior is one of the main components that play a role in environmental conservation (Chouhan et al., 2017; Istiana & Awaludin, 2018; Lai & Cheng, 2016; Meyer, 2016; Runhaar et al., 2019). Students become one of the agents who must participate in environmental conservation (Börner et al., 2015; Ferreira, 2012; Huang et al., 2019; Sivamoorthy et al., 2013). Therefore, learning by utilizing the environmental issues will make it easier for students to gain knowledge and awareness to conserve the environment. In addition, online learning requires students to continue to hone their HOTS. Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) are students' skills in analyzing, evaluating, and making solutions to a problem (Anderson et al., 2001). HOTS plays a role in training students' thinking to be able to solve problems with various innovative solutions, this is what makes HOTS important to be improved (Belecina & Ocampo, 2018; Ichsan & Rahmayanti, 2020a; Pedrosa-de-Jesus et al., 2014; Zhang et al., 2020). In addition, during the COVID-19 pandemic, students are required to be creative and think critically in managing online learning. Utilization of the environmental issues as a learning resource will require more specific thinking, namely High Order Thinking Skills of Environmental Problem (HOTSEP). HOTSEP includes criticizing problems, providing solutions, and developing innovations related to environmental issues (Ichsan & Rahmayanti, 2020a). HOTSEP is a more contextual level of thinking because it focuses on measuring innovation development to the highest level (C6). The lower level includes students providing problem-solving (C5) and the lowest level is related to criticizing problems (C4) about the environment (Ichsan & Rahmayanti, 2020a). These three aspects of thinking are suitable for 21st-century learning. Some researchers say that appropriate learning models are needed to train students' abilities in the 21st century (Chalkiadaki, 2018; Demiral, 2018; Garcia, 2015; Kinslow et al., 2018). HOTSEP and HOTS require improvement efforts, especially in the learning environment for vocational students. To accommodate students' HOTS and HOTSEP, a contextual learning model that can take advantage of the environment is needed, namely the ITA model. The ITA learning model which consists of Identify problems–Think and write– Analysis and argumentation is expected to be suitable for learning activities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is known that a great learning model contains learning innovations that can solve various problems using students' critical thinking (Ichsan & Rahmayanti, 2020b). The ITA learning model can be in the form of teaching model that contain content or topics related to the environment for vocational students. This research is the initial research of the development of the ITA model. The purpose of this study was to analyze the HOTS and HOTSEP of vocational students as the basis for developing integrated teaching model using the ITA model for environmental learning. METHOD The research was carried out at one of the Vocational schools in Jakarta in April 2021. The sample comprised 61 students in tenth grade consisting of 29 male students and 32 female students selected using simple random sampling. The research questionnaire used Google Forms. The instrument was distributed to respondents using various social media ranging from WhatsApp, email, and various other applications. Data were then collected and analyzed. The research variables measured were students' HOTS and HOTSEP. The HOTS instrument indicators used in this study were referring to (Anderson et al., 2001). There are six questions developed from the HOTS indicator as presented in Table 1. The interval score for the instrument used is 0-10. JPBI (Jurnal Pendidikan Biologi Indonesia) Vol. 7, No. 3, November 2021, pp. 267-274 269 Islami et al (Vocational students’ HOTS and HOTSEP … ) Table 1. Table of HOTS aspect and indicators Aspect Indicator Question number C4 (Analysis) Analyze the impact of waste produced from practicum activities 1 and 2 C5 (Evaluation) Evaluate the 4R principle, namely Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Replace 3 and 4 C6 (Create) Create a garbage bin and flower pot from recycled materials and put it at school or home 5 and 6 Furthermore, the HOTSEP instrument used in this study was developed from the indicators proposed by Ichsan and Rahmayanti (2020a). Six questions were developed to measure the three HOTSEP indicators, as described in Table 2. The instrument used has a score interval of 0-10. The HOTSEP descriptive analysis using Microsoft Excel aimed at measuring student knowledge in the environmental learning context. The data were analyzed descriptively using the HOTSEP categorization (very high, high, medium, low, and very low) with reference to Ichsan and Rahmayanti (2020a), as shown in Table 3. Table 2. Table of HOTSEP aspect and Indicators Aspect Indicator Question number C4 (Criticize) Criticize air and water pollution problems 7 and 8 C5 (Provide solution) Provide solutions to flood disaster around their house 9 and 10 C6 (Develop innovation) Develop ideas to cope with garbage accumulation 11 and 12 Table 3. HOTSEP categories in environmental learning In addition, this study was also observed the learning media use that was measured using a questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of five questions that developed based on four indicators (Table 3). Table 3. Learning media indicators Indicator Question number Environmental learning media used are suitable to learning objectives 1 Environmental content taught uses digital-based learning media 2 Environmental learning media are routinely used 3 Utilization of technology-based learning media as long as it is suitable to current development 4 and 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The results of collecting student HOTS data are listed in two tables. The first (Table 4) describes the students' scores on each question, while the other table (Table 5) shows the scores for the measured HOTS aspects. The results showed that the HOTS scores of vocational students were in the very low category. This is shown in all questions that score less than 3.5. The lowest score on items regarding waste analysis from practicum activities for making building components. Table 4. Average HOTS score for each item (question) No. Items Total Male student Female student 1. Analyze waste from practicum activity in the making of building components 2.34 2.10 2.56 2. Analyze waste from wood practicum activity 3.05 2.93 3.16 3. Evaluate 4R in daily activities at home 2.70 2.41 2.97 4. Evaluate 4R in practicum activities at school 3.34 2.93 3.72 5. Concept of making a garbage bin and flower pot from recycled materials at school 3.02 3.14 2.91 6. Concept of making a garbage bin and flower pot from recycled materials at home 2.69 2.69 2.69 Average 2.86 2.70 3.01 Score 28.6 27.0 30.1 Category Very low Very low Very low Category Interval of Students’ HOTSEP score Very high X> 81.28 High 70.64