Exploring Science Classroom Culture in Indonesia from the Perspective of Community of Practice

Abstract

This study discusses the findings about science classroom culture in Indonesia. It employs sociocultural theory as a lens for identifying the structures that influence science learning in a cultural context. According to Wengers (1998) theory, Community of Practice (CoP) is a group of people who share concerns, a set of problems, and knowledge. In a science class, most of the inquiry processes are practised as small group activities and include social attributes. The CoP is thus expected to present a perspective about science classroom culture. The findings from existing studies suggest that several instruments of classroom environment show the significant differences regarding students perception of classroom environment in Indonesia from different groups of students. Moreover, PISA and TIMSS results report that Indonesian students show a high-index of motivation, good engagement, and the highest sense of school belonging. However, Indonesia usually shows very low, often the lowest, result in terms of academic performances. These disparities deserve some qualified explanations and in-depth investigations. In order to understand the phenomena and their backgrounds, this study will investigate classroom culture by employing five structural elements of SCaCoP (Science Classroom as Community of Practice) for exploring science classroom culture (i.e., Responsibility for Learning, Common Interest, Mutual Relationship, Open Participation, and Practice) to survey 1660 Indonesian high and middle school students. The results reveal that Indonesian students achieved high scores relatively for Responsibility, Open Participation, Relationship, and Practice elements, while Common Interest was performed as the lowest score. In addition, there were some significant differences based on genders, grades, and school localities in SCaCoP results. These quantitative results were confirmed by qualitative analysis in which the data were triangulated through observation of four representative classes and interviews with twelve selected students and four science teachers. The qualitative results show that the students understanding of the important aspect (i.e., responsibility, main domain, and the rules) related to science lesson encouraged them to become responsible and to be serious in learning science. However, some topics of science were considered difficult by students, and teachers failed to deliver an effective lesson, making students less interested in learning science. The academic performance of Indonesian students is still lower than other countries. Notwithstanding the low interest, Mutual Relationship and Open Participation of students were perceived high in the classroom. Friendliness and sharing data were found from the interview that would make Indonesian students good at relationship. Furthermore, open adjustment, open communication, and common participation were supposed to influence a higher score of Open Participation by Indonesian students in learning science. In short, Indonesian students had a good engagement in shared activities that would make students feel helpful and enjoy the learning. Lastly, Indonesian students were good at deciding and evaluating any rules of a science lesson, but they thought that they need to be more productive in practice. Educational implications were discussed in terms of social views on learning as well as their impact on teaching and learning science.

Keyword: Community of Practice, science classroom culture, Indonesia secondary school Student Number: 2016-22120