Developing a RAW-Based Science E-Comic to Enhance Junior High School Students’ Learning Outcomes and Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Environmental Science
Abstract
This study aimed to develop a RAW-based E-Comic Sains Green Ranger for teaching environmental pollution and global warming and to examine its preliminary effectiveness in improving seventh-grade students’ science learning outcomes and higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Using a research and development approach structured by the ADDIE stages (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation), the e-comic combined contextual environmental narratives with Reading, Analyzing, and Writing activities. A limited trial involved 64 Grade VII students at SMPN 2 Ponorogo, Indonesia, divided equally between an experimental class (n = 32) and a control class (n = 32). Data were obtained from pretests and posttests of science learning outcomes and HOTS observation sheets and analyzed descriptively using normalized gain (N-gain). The experimental class achieved a higher mean posttest score (88.44) than the control class (81.72). Its learning-outcome N-gain was 0.78 (high), compared with 0.64 (moderate) in the control class; corresponding HOTS N-gain values were 0.76 and 0.51, respectively. These descriptive findings suggest that integrating an environmental e-comic with structured reading, analysis, and writing activities may support conceptual learning and higher-order thinking. However, the limited two-class trial and absence of reported inferential testing constrain claims of comparative effectiveness. Further studies with larger samples and rigorous statistical evaluation are needed to establish the intervention’s impact and transferability.
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