The Effect of Learning Models and Academic Ability on Students’ Scientific Literacy in Disaster Preparedness

Scientific literacy is important for elementary students, especially for disaster preparedness issues. The research purpose was to analyze the effect of Problem Based Learning models and students’ academic abilities on scientific literacy in attitudes, contexts, competencies, and knowledge. The research method used a quasi-experimental with the matching only pretest-posttest control group design. The populations were 4 elementary schools with a disaster preparedness program. Samples were taken by cluster random sampling. The homogeneity test based on the average scores from odd semester 2018/2019 in fourth-grade elementary school for subjects such as civic education, mathematics, Indonesian language, science, and social sciences. The independent variable was thematic with PBL learning model. The moderator variable was a student’s academic ability and the dependent variable was scientific literacy which includes attitude, context, knowledge, and competence. Instruments in this study were attitude questionnaire, context and knowledge test, and science competency observation. Quantitative data were analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 25. The research experiments show that (1) PBL model has a significant influence on the student in scientific literacy aspects such as attitudes, contexts, knowledge, and competencies; (2) academic ability does not significantly influence the scientific literacy aspects. School principals, teachers, and future researchers suggested to download the information and make learning resources about earthquake disaster preparedness education on the www.wartabencana.com to foster earthquake safety culture for students optimally.