Connecting Chemistry to Life and Society: Promoting Students Chemical Literacy through Culturally Responsive Transformative Teaching (CRTT)
Yuli Rahmawati1, a) Achmad Ridwan1, Yussi Pratiwi1, Mario Aditya Prasetyo1, Alin Mardiah1, and Rafi Al-Badri1

1Department of Chemistry Education, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Jakarta, 13220 Indonesia

Abstract

This paper reports an innovative approach that employs Culturally Responsive Transformative Teaching (CRTT) in chemistry learning designed to engage students in chemical literacy development. The study comprised Palembang culture related to electrolyte and non-electrolyte solution concepts in the secondary school curriculum to explore the relevance of chemistry to students^ life and society. This qualitative research involved thirty-six 11-grade students at a public senior high school in Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra province, Indonesia. The researchers collected multiple data through classroom observations, reflective journals, semi-structured interviews, and chemical literacy tests. The results illustrated that students enhanced their social and cultural awareness as a critical starting point to engage them in CRTT. The results also demonstrated that students experienced chemical literacy development: (i) they were able to identify, propose ideas, and generalize the findings through electrical conductivity experiments of the Palembang culture product, such as Cuko Pempek, Pindang Sauce, and Batik, (ii) students were able to investigate the ionization reaction and explain the chemical process of Palembang culture electrical conductivity test, (iii) students were able to provide scientific evidence on explaining the chemistry concepts on cultural products context, (iv) students trained their higher-order learning skills illustrated by providing the questions, finding relevance information, and conduct the discussion, and (v) students showed their interest to chemical issues related to cultural context by providing solutions to a problem. This study revealed the importance of connecting chemistry learning to students^ life and society to involve them in meaningful learning to empower their critical skills and identity. This paper also addressed the challenges faced by the researcher in designing chemistry-based-CRTT in an online learning environment.

Keywords: Culturally Responsive Transformative Teaching, Chemical Literacy, Palembang Culture, Chemistry Learning

Topic: Science Education in General