ANALYSIS OF STUDENT SCIENCE LITERACY AT SMPN 15 PADANG ON SUBSTANCE PRESSURE AND ITS APPLICATION IN DAILY LIFE

Abstract

Scientific literacy is recognized as one of the essential competencies required for students to address the challenges of the twenty-first century, including rapid scientific and technological development and increasingly complex global issues. However, the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reported that Indonesian students' scientific literacy remains below the international average. This study aimed to describe the scientific literacy levels of eighth-grade junior high school students. A quantitative descriptive research design was employed involving 222 eighth-grade students from a public junior high school during the 2022/2023 academic year. Data were collected using a scientific literacy test consisting of multiple-choice, complex multiple-choice, matching, and true–false items. The test assessed three scientific literacy competencies: explaining scientific phenomena, evaluating and designing scientific investigations, and interpreting scientific data and evidence, within the topic of Substances Pressure and Its Applications in Everyday Life. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results indicated that students achieved an average score of 41.48% for explaining scientific phenomena (moderate category), 66.32% for evaluating and designing scientific investigations (good category), and 50.00% for interpreting scientific data and evidence (moderate category). Overall, the findings suggest that the scientific literacy of eighth-grade students remains at a moderate level, indicating the need for instructional strategies that further promote scientific reasoning and inquiry-based learning.