Date of Graduation

8-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum and Instruction (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Advisor/Mentor

William McComas

Committee Member

Stephen Burgin

Second Committee Member

Cathy Wissehr

Keywords

Comparison, Curriculum, Instructional, Perspectives, Secondary Schools

Abstract

My study was to discover the perceptions of general secondary senior high school biology teachers about the application of curriculum 2013. Their further opinions of biology topics and the instructional practices in the class have supported the findings of this study. In addressing this study, general senior secondary school (GSSS) biology teachers (n=286) from 22 districts in Aceh province randomly participated in my study. Thus, six (n=6) teachers were selected as convenience sampling to have a one-on-one phone interview. The data collected were analyzed descriptively (frequency and percentage) and thematically to answer the research questions.

The documents comparison between the U.S. Next Generation Science Standards Life Science (NGSS-LS) and 2013 Indonesian biology curriculum (IBC 2013) for senior secondary school showed similarity in the elements of comparison. Yet, the performance expectation in NGSS-LS is connected to three dimensions of framework and other ideas within disciplines.

Most GSSS biology teachers in Aceh province believed that the 2013 curriculum had offered the better system to improve the teaching and learning quality. The GSSS biology teachers agreed that almost all biology topics listed were significant and should be taught to senior high school students. However, some of them possessed ideas about an ideal curriculum that would include local contents, be designed by the biology experts whom fully understand of the biology contents and must be supported with adequate learning facilities or infrastructure. Teachers had taught those biology topics listed in the 2013 curriculum, with some challenges they faced. They had also used some teaching models and prefer to use various teaching models that focus on student-centered.

Although the new required assessment system is complex and detailed, most teachers had tried to apply various techniques of the evaluation in the classroom such as assigning paper tests and homework (to measure students’ knowledge), observation and self-assessment (to measure students’ attitude) and performance assessment (to measure students’ skill). In terms of characters education assimilation, several characters such as religious, honest, tolerance, discipline, hard-working, creative, curiosity, communicative/being friendly, social and environmental awareness, and responsible have been applied at a different stage of instructional and in school’s co-curricular activities.

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