Penerapan Inkuiri Terstruktur Berbantuan PhET Untuk Meningkatkan Kemampuan Kognitif Murid Pada Materi Hukum Newton

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the improvement of students’ cognitive abilities, the implementation of learning activities, and students’ responses to the application of a structured inquiry learning model assisted by PhET simulations on Newton’s Laws material. The study employed a quantitative approach with a one-group pretest–posttest design. The research subjects were junior high school students selected through purposive sampling. The research instruments included a cognitive ability test, an observation sheet for learning implementation, and a student response questionnaire. The data were analyzed using a paired sample t-test and N-Gain, as well as descriptive percentage analysis. The results showed that the average pretest score of students was 56.12, which increased to 82.45 in the posttest. The paired sample t-test indicated a significant difference between pretest and posttest scores with a significance value of Sig. (2-tailed) = 0.000 (< 0.05). The N-Gain analysis obtained an average score of 0.61, which was categorized as moderate. The implementation of learning activities reached 100% with a very good category. Students’ responses to the learning process obtained an average percentage of 84.48%, which was categorized as very positive. Based on these results, it can be concluded that the application of a structured inquiry learning model assisted by PhET simulations is effective in improving students’ cognitive abilities on Newton’s Laws material, particularly in analyzing the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. This model is also able to create active, systematic, and meaningful learning, making it suitable for implementation in science learning at the junior high school level.