The impact of STEM-based independent learning unit on students’ mastery of the respiratory system topic

One of the efforts to overcome distance learning problems due to the lack of facilities owned by Bali Mandara Senior High School students is by implementing Independent Learning Unit (ILU). However, the ILU that has been developed so far has not been successfully applied in the biology class as evidenced by the average value of students’ understanding being four points below the passing grade. The application of STEM-based ILU is the solution in improving the students’ biology learning outcomes. In conducting the research, post-test data on biology learning outcomes on the respiratory system topic and the students’ responses toward a questionnaire administered were taken from the control group and the treatment group. The average post test score was compared with the passing grade. The results showed that the percentage of the learning mastery of the experimental group using STEM-based ILU was 81% while that of the control group was 59%. It is very likely that the result occured because STEM-based ILU provided a learning stimulus to foster the students’ independence and active involvement in competency mastery. For this reason, STEM-based ILU needs to be developed in distance learning for the other topics.