The Effect of Formative Assessment on the Cognitive Learning Outcomes of Fourth-Semester Students in the Biology Education Study Program, Academic Year 2015/2016, Universitas Cendrawasih

Abstrak

This study is a quantitative research employing a quasi-experimental design aimed at examining the effect of formative assessment on the learning outcomes of fourth-semester students in the Biology Education Study Program, academic year 2015/2016. The population of this study consisted of all fourth-semester students (even semester) in the Biology Education Study Program, totaling 26 students. The sampling technique used was saturated sampling, in which the entire population was used as the research sample. The instruments used in this study were: (1) formative tests in the form of essay questions administered after each topic to measure students’ learning outcomes; (2) a questionnaire containing questions relevant to the research; and (3) documentation, which involved collecting data in the form of records or grade transcripts. These instruments were used to obtain data on students’ learning outcomes and had been tested for validity and reliability. The data analysis techniques included descriptive analysis to describe the variables studied and inferential analysis using a t-test with the assistance of SPSS version 17 to examine the effect between variables. The results of the descriptive analysis indicated that the use of formative tests improved students’ mastery of concepts in the Animal Structure course in the even semester of the 2016/2017 academic year by 84.61%. Furthermore, the inferential analysis using a one-sample t-test tested H0: µ ≥ 60 against H1: µ < 60. The p-value for the two-tailed test was 0.325; since a one-tailed hypothesis test was conducted, the p-value was divided by 2, resulting in 0.162. As this value is greater than α = 0.05, H0 was accepted. Thus, it can be concluded that the implementation of formative assessment has a significant effect on improving students’ learning outcomes