Developing an Argument-Driven Inquiry-Based Learning Module to Strengthen High School Students’ Argumentation Skills on Renewable Energy Concepts

Abstract

Interviews with a physics teacher at a public senior high school in Semarang revealed that students’ argumentation skills were low: students lacked confidence, tended to be passive, and the available teaching materials did not train argumentation, particularly on renewable energy. This study aimed to develop an Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI)-based teaching module and to analyze its characteristics, validity, readability, effectiveness in improving argumentation skills, and student responses. The study used a Research and Development design with the 4D model. The module was validated by five experts, the test instrument was trialed with 34 grade XI students, and the module’s effectiveness was tested on 64 grade X students using a non-equivalent control group design (32 experimental and 32 control students). The instruments were validation sheets, a cloze test, a student response questionnaire, and nine essay items based on Toulmin’s claim, data, and warrant indicators. The module was valid (Aiken’s V = 0.88), had an independent readability level (cloze score 97.64%), and received good student responses (82.67%). The experimental class achieved significantly higher posttest scores than the control class (p = 0.017) and a higher N-Gain (0.74, high) than the control class (0.60, medium). Therefore, the ADI-based module is valid and effective for improving students’ scientific argumentation skills. Future studies should strengthen the warrant indicator, which showed the lowest achievement, through explicit reasoning practice and complete argument examples.