Effectiveness of STEM Project Using Caesalpinia sappan L. Natural Dye to Enhance High School Students’ Chemical Literacy and Food Safety Awareness
Abstract
This study examined changes following STEM-integrated Project-Based Learning (STEM-PjBL) using natural dye extracted from secang wood (Caesalpinia sappan L.) to examine chemical literacy and describe post-intervention food safety awareness in acid–base learning. A pre-experimental one-group pretest–posttest design was employed with 35 eleventh-grade students selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a validated chemical literacy test and a food safety awareness questionnaire. Validation scores ranged from 93% to 100%, and chemical literacy test reliability was acceptable (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.80). The Shapiro–Wilk test indicated that posttest scores were not normally distributed (p = .001); therefore, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to examine differences between pretest and posttest scores. The results showed a significant increase in chemical literacy, with the mean score increasing from 46.88 to 88.29. The Wilcoxon test indicated a statistically significant difference (Z = −5.193, p < .001), with a large effect size (r = 0.88). The N-gain was 0.78, indicating a high level of improvement. The post-intervention food safety awareness questionnaire score was 85.29%; no baseline awareness score was available. These findings indicate an improvement in chemical literacy scores following STEM-PjBL, while food safety awareness was described only after the intervention.
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