The Profile of Students’ Lesson-Planning Ability Based on Problem-
Solving in Science Learning
Widiasih Widiasih
1
, Anna Permanasari
2
, Riandi Riandi
2
, T. Damayanti
1
and H. Johan
3
1
Universitas Terbuka, Jl. Raya Pondok Cabe, Kota Tangerang Selatan 15418, Indonesia
2
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jl. Dr. Setiabudi No. 229, Bandung 40154, Indonesia
3
Universitas Bengkulu, Jl. Wr. Suprtaman, Kandang Limun, Bengkulu, Indonesia
Keywords: Lesson-Planning, Ability, Problem-Solving, Science Learning.
Abstract: This study aims to analyze the students' lesson-planning ability based on problem-solving in science learning.
This study used descriptive-qualitative method. 39 in-service teachers student of Distance Higher Education
were involved in this study. Essay test was conducted to collect data of lesson-planning ability. The result
shows that the students' ability of lesson-planning is still in category moderate. In-service Training of Primary
School Teacher Education Program is categorized as quite capable (score 63) in planning science lesson based
on problem solving in learning science. It can be concluded that efforts need to be developed an online
learning to enhance students’ ability of lesson-planning in learning science.
1 INTRODUCTION
Based on regulation of national education minister
number 16, 2007th on teacher competence mentioned
that teacher always have to do reflective action for
improvement of learning quality (pedagogic
competence). In this case the teacher is required to
reflect on the learning that has been implemented in
the classroom. Teachers should take advantage of
such reflection results for the improvement and
development of lessons learned in the subject matter.
If this reflection activity is carried out continuously it
will help improve teachers' professionalism. Self-
reflection can shape the innovation and revolution of
learning in the classroom (Loughran, 2005). Self-
reflection is a key element of professionalism
(Bowman, 1989). Self-reflection is the key concept of
teacher education to promote continuously
professionalism (Korthagen and Vasalos, 2005). To
become a professional teacher must have at least a
professional knowledge of content knowledge,
pedagogical knowledge, pedagogical content
knowledge (Abdurrahman, 2013). It further said that
to improve professionalism, a teacher must be able to
solve practical problems in the field (Darling-
Hammond, Holtzman, et al., 2005).
Science teaching in the 21st century should offer
a variety of contexts that can be developed such as
critical thinking, problem solving, and the concept of
science itself. It also goes well together with the goal
of 21st Century National Education that is to realize
the ideals of the nation; prosperous and happiness for
the people of Indonesia, and equally honoured with
other nations in the global world, through the
foundation of a society consisting of competent
human resources, that is independent, determined and
capable in achieving the ideals of the nation. To
achieve the goals, hence it is needed that the human
resources must have several competences/skills based
on the “21st Century Partnership Learning
Framework” (BSNP, 2010), those are: Critical-
Thinking and Problem-Solving Skills;
Communication and Collaboration Skills; Creativity
and Innovation Skills; Information and
Communications Technology Literacy; Contextual
Learning Skills; Information and Media Literacy
Skills.
The achievement on the 21st century as expected
as mentioned before, an educational model that takes
consideration in utilizing of educational technology is
needed, the role of teachers or lecturers and learners,
creative teaching and learning methods, contextual
teaching materials, independent individual-based
148
Widiasih, W., Permanasari, A., Riandi, R., Damayanti, T. and Johan, H.
The Profile of Students’ Lesson-Planning Ability Based on Problem-Solving in Science Learning.
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences (ICES 2017) - Volume 2, pages 148-152
ISBN: 978-989-758-314-8
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

curriculum structure (BSNP, 2010). In line with the
mentions by BSNP, then Selvi (2017) suggests the
teacher competence that must be owned, as shown in
the following chart.
Figure 1: Components of teachers’ professional
competencies.
The Figure 1 shows that teachers’ professional
competences were Field Competencies, Research
Competencies, Curriculum Competencies, Lifelong
Learning Competencies, Social-Cultural
Competencies, Emotional Competencies, and
Communication Competencies.
However, in reality, the competence of teacher
who are expected to meet the objectives, is still far
from expectations. Previous research at in-service
training program studies college students of distance
learning showed that students find difficulties in
curriculum competence in learning Science
especially when it is related to planning and
implementing learning (Widiasih, 2016). For that
reason, this research measures the ability of teachers
in lesson planning of learning Science based on
reflection problem solving.
Problems occur when there is a gap between a
person's current state with his/her own desire, where
he/she does not know how to find a way out (Hayes
as stated by Lorenzo, 2005). Furthermore, Woolfok
(2009) states that problems have original state,
desired goal, and pathway to achieve that goal.
Supporting the idea, Santrock (2008) states that
problem solving is a quick way to achieve goals. In
general, problems contain questions. Bell (1978)
states that a question is a matter for a person, if that
person is aware of the situation and requires action
that is not immediately resolved.
Kirkley (2003) states that problem solving
involves high-level thinking skills such as
visualization, association, abstraction, manipulation,
reasoning, analysis, synthesis, and generalization.
Based on that, it can be inferred that problem solving
is a thought process to find the right way to obtain a
solution. Presseisen (1985) states that thinking is
assumed as a cognitive process, a mental process for
acquiring knowledge. Furthermore, it is said that the
thinking skills are grouped into two, basic thinking
skills and complex thinking skill or higher order
thinking. Higher order thinking is grouped into four:
problem solving, decision making, critical thinking,
and creative thinking (Presseisen, 1985). Thus
solving problems requires complex thinking skill or
higher order thinking.
According to Nakin (2003), problem solving is a
process involving the use of certain steps (heuristics),
which are often referred to as model or problem-
solving steps to find a solution. Heuristics are
common guidelines or steps used to guide problem
solving. However, these measures do not guarantee
individual’s success in solving the problem. This is in
contrast to what Brownell (McIntosh, 2000) has
stated. He states that a problem cannot yet be called
solved even if it has a solution to the problem. It is
solved if an individual has yet understood to what he
has been done to the problem that is the process in
solving the problem and the reason to why the
solution is the right one.
The Universitas Terbuka team (2013) addresses
the following steps: 1) identifying key or significant
information in the case of learning; 2) connecting the
information so that a problem or question arises; 3)
analyzing the cause of the problem; 4) developing
alternative solution for the problem; 5) analyzing the
strengths and weaknesses of each proposed
alternative; 6) choose one or several alternatives that
are considered the most effective. The next step is that
the "the one or several alternative solution to be
effective" is transferred into preparing lesson
planning.
2 METHODS
The sample data used in this research comes from 39
bachelor degree students of In-service Training of
Primary School Teacher Education Program with
different expertise (non-teacher-educational subject).
The instruments used are Essay Test, Multiple
Choice, and portfolio of teacher performance in
planning of learning. The reason to which the
instruments are used is to measure students’ ability in
The Profile of Students’ Lesson-Planning Ability Based on Problem-Solving in Science Learning
149

lesson planning based on problem solving. Data is
collected through tests and interviews conducted in
April 2017. Data is analyzed by descriptive
qualitative.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
When doing the research, the in-service training
students were only 2 weeks old of becoming distance
learning students, so it was expected that the students
had not yet given enough materials from the class.
However, 92% of them had already bachelor in
educational program while the rest were bachelor in
non-educational program.
Table 1: Students’ educational background.
Bachelor in students
Indonesian Language and
Literature Education 1
92%
English Language and
Literature Education 10
Mathematics Education 4
Islamic Education
11
Primary Teacher Education
(SPDI) 3
Pancasila and Citizenship
Education 3
Arts Education 1
Public Health
1
8%
Agricultural Technology 1
Biology 1
Economic Managements 2
Communication 1
Total 39 100%
The data in Table 1 shows that 92% of students
have finished their undergraduate education, so they
should be experts in preparing learning
implementation plan. Moreover, data in Table 1
shows that 95% of students have experience in
teaching for over 5 years. It is assumed they are
experts in preparing the learning Implementation
plan. However, in reality, it is still far from
expectation.
The experience of teaching students in-service
training are varies as shown in the following Table 2.
Table 2: Teaching duration.
Teaching Duration
(in year)
Students %
< 5 10 26
5 - 9 12 31
10 - 14 15 38
15 -20 2 5
Table 2 shows the teaching experience of students
is enough, less than 5 to 20 years. However, are they
adequate in developing teaching planning?
The Data of “the most effective alternative
solution" is transferred into preparing the
implementation of lesson planning, students obtained
the average score listed in the following chart.
Figure 2: Profile of student’s lesson plan science learning
ability.
The Figure 1 shows that students' difficulties in
preparing the implementation of lesson planning
consecutively are determining materials that is related
to the applicable curriculum (71 %); developing and
organizing the material (66%); planning learning
scenarios (63%); and planning assessment (53%).
The average ability in preparing lesson planning 63%
is category moderate.
Examples of student work are listed below.
ICES 2017 - 1st International Conference on Educational Sciences
150

Figure 3: Sample of performance student in developing and organizing the material.
Figure 4: Sample of performance student in planning learning scenarios.
The Figure 3 shows that the performance of
teachers in developing and organizing material is
generally less coherent and less detailed. The sample
of student work in planning learning scenarios as
follows.
The Figure 4 shows that the performance of
student in planning learning scenarios ranging from
incomplete (left) and complete (right). In the less-
than-complete student work written in the initial
activity it says "implementing the thematic
environment of my home". In the core activity it says
"show the picture of my home environment".
Furthermore, in the final activity written "students do
the group". The student whose have bachelor degree
in Pancasila and Citizenship Education and 12 years
of teaching experience organizes learning materials
poorly, while a relatively good organized material is
achieved by the student who have bachelor degree in
Mathematics Education and a 5 years of teaching
experience. This means teaching duration does not
guarantee teacher to be able to make a better learning
implementation plan. While on the right appear
examples of complete learning steps from opening to
closing the correct and complete learning.
Similarly, in preparing steps of learning, it is very
varied from less good to a relatively good, as has been
mentioned above. Examples of less good learning
steps, are as follows: Pre-core activity: applying
thematic “my home environment”; Core activities:
showing pictures of the home environment; End
activities: students work on groups. The situation was
very sad, because this student had a bachelor degree
in Citizenship Education and had been teaching in
elementary school for 12 years. Can you imagine how
the quality of learners it produces? Has it been able to
meet the expectations of forming competence human
resources that can compete in the 21st Century.
Student performance in planning assessment
showed the worst result that is 53%. Examples of
student work on that part can be seen in the following
this table.
The Profile of Students’ Lesson-Planning Ability Based on Problem-Solving in Science Learning
151

Table 3: Sample of consecutively are planning assessment.
Learning objectives Item of Question
• Students can explain
about the importance of
healthy living
• Students can identify
objects in the
neighborhood
• Students can describe
the objects that are
aroun
d
• Mention the
properties of light
• Mention optical
devices and their
functions
• Mention 4 kinds of
eye defects
From Table 3 show that the items developed by
the students did not measure learning objectives. The
students are mostly weak in evaluating. Most of them
make questions with less measurement of learning
indicator. For example, the learning indicator of
"Students can explain the importance of living
healthy", while the question is "Mention the
properties of light".
Based on the data of students’ ability in preparing
lesson planning, the students are still far from
expectations. The purpose of developing a learning
plan is to provide assurance that learners will learn
well. Learning planning is related to the decisions
teachers make in organizing, implementing, and
evaluating learning outcomes (Burden and Byrd,
1999). Planning is a very important task to do by the
teacher. When teachers make decisions about
planning, it is necessary to consider "what one does,
when and what sequences of learning events will
occur, where the learning event lasts, the amount of
time spent, and the resources and materials used."
4 CONCLUSIONS
The results of this research can be concluded that in-
service training students of in-service Training of
Primary School Teacher Education Program are
categorized as quite capable in planning science
lesson. Students' difficulties in preparing the
implementation of lesson planning consecutively are
planning assessment, planning learning scenarios,
developing and organizing the material, and
determining materials that is related to the applicable
curriculum. It to be needed to develop a learning
process that facilitate to increase student’ ability in
creating lesson plan.
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