Effectiveness of Phet Simulation in Improving Students' Science Process Skills on Static Electricity Concept Material

Abstract

This study aims to determine the effectiveness of using PhET simulations in improving students’ science process skills on the concept of static electricity. The research was conducted at MTs At-Taqwa Beru with the research subjects being 20 eighth-grade students from class VIII-A. The research method used was a pre-experimental design with a one-group pre-test and post-test approach. Data collection instruments included a written test to measure students' science process skills and an observation sheet to support data on students' performance during the learning process. The results showed a significant improvement in students’ science process skills after learning with the PhET simulation. The average observation score increased from 58.8 (categorized as fair)to 83.2 (categorized as good). In addition, the N-Gain analysis resulted in an average score of 0.481, which falls into the medium category according to Hake’s (1998) classification. Therefore, the use of PhET simulations is proven to be effective in enhancing students’ science process skills and is recommended as an alternative instructional medium for teaching abstract physics concepts such as static electricity.