They Categorized Lower Order Thinking Skills but They Answer Incorrectly: How is the Opposite?

Abstract

This study began with the discovery of writings in several journals about the difficulties of students in learning physics, as well as the importance of the role of using representation in the teaching and learning process to help students to solve problems. The purpose of this research is to identify the consistency of student responses of the test based on representation diagrams in the category of Low Order Category Thinking Skills (LOTS) and High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). The test is designed only requires answers in the form of drawings or diagrams of the physics topic about dynamics. Participants in this research were 22 teacher-candidate students who had passed the course of Evaluation of Physics Learning. The results of the study found that those they categorized LOTS are 63.6% answered incorrectly and 19% did not answer, and those they categorized HOTS are 73.6% answered incorrectly and 26.4% did not answer. The implication of the results of this research is that for basic sciences such as physics requires mastery for all levels of thinking ability, not only for mastering mathematics as a tool but also for a good understanding of the use of representation diagrams.