Joyful Learning Model: Improving Higher Order Thinking Skill and Students' Learning Motivation at Senior High School

Higher-Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is one of the most important aspects to increase the quality of education. However, HOTS in SMA Muhammadiyah 1 Pontianak is considered still not appearing. This can be seen from the practice questions given by the teacher still using the verb C1-C3. Besides that based on the result of interviews with students, the learning pattern applied by biology teachers who still conventional method makes students bored and less motivated to study biology. The use of a joyful learning model is expected to help students to improve their HOTS and motivation in learning. This study aimed to determine the effect of a joyful learning model on students’ HOTS and their learning motivation. This quasi-experimental research involved 30 students of X MIA 1 and X MIA 2 as the sample. Data were collected through test and questionnaires which was analyzed using effect size. The results obtained from the test show that joyful learning model could improvements in the both students’ HOTS and learning motivation, indicated by the value of effect size HOTS obtained at 0,31 which is included in the medium category, and students’ motivation in learning with the effect size value at 1,15 which is categorized as very high. Thus, joyful learning could improve HOTS and learning motivation in senior high school.