Creative thinking skills and problem-solving skills were among the competencies that must be possessed by students in the 21st-century, which need to be developed through the learning process, and are still teacher challenge to date. This study aims to improve creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and learning outcomes of seventh-grade students by problem-based learning (PBL). This class action research was conducted at State Junior High School 18 of Malang. The subjects was students’ class VIIE. The study was conducted two cycles (repeated seven times). Each cycle referring to Spiral Model by Kemmis, McTaggart, and Nixon. The problem-solving skills data were obtained from student worksheet assessment, the creative thinking skills data were obtained from performance grading rubric and learning outcomes data were obtained from end-of-cycle essay test. The results shows that PBL improves (1) the average of problem solving skills of 27% with the completion rate of 47%,(2) the average of creative thinking skills of 11% with the completion rate of 17.5%, and  (3) the average learning outcomes of 13% with the completion rate of 15%. It can concluded that teachers can implement PBL to improve students’ creative thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and learning outcomes.

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Hybrid-PjBL is an innovative learning model relevant to the demands of the twenty-first century scheme. The study on Hybrid-PjBL is still rarely conducted by Indonesian researchers and the studies are still limited to the effect of this model on student's thinking skills and metacognitive awareness. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect of Hybrid-PjBL implementation on learning outcomes, creative thinking skills, and student's learning motivation. This study used quasiexperiment, through Nonrandomized Control Group Pretest-Posttest Design. The population was all the sixth-semester students in the Biology Education Department, University of Muhammadiyah Malang. The study sample involved two classes randomly selected from a total of three classes at this institution, comprising students who took Environmental Knowledge course; each class consisted of fifty students. Learning outcomes test sheets, creative thinking skill notes, and motivation questionnaires were instruments used to collect the data. The data obtained were then analyzed using one-way analysis of covariance with the significance level of 5%. The results showed that the application of Hybrid-PjBL had a significant influence on the achievement of learning outcomes and creative thinking skills. The results of this study indicate that Hybrid-PjBL is an alternative learning, suitable to the demands of the twenty-first century.

This study aims to analyse the difference of metacognitive awareness of treatment (using Blended Project Based Learning) and control class. This is a quasi-experimental research with Non-equivalent Control Group Design.

Higher-order Thinking Skills (HOTS) is significant for students and has to be trained and managed well by teachers. This study aims to describe the preparation of biology teachers in learning, to analyze the understanding of biology teachers about HOTS, and to examine the efforts of biology teachers in developing HOTS for high school students in Banjarmasin, Indonesia. The subject of this survey was forty-one senior high school biology teachers in the city of Banjarmasin who were involved in routine activities of MGMP (biology subject teacher working group). The research instrument is in the form of a modified questionnaire from previous researchers and has been validated by experts. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistic (percentage). The results showed that the senior high school biology teachers in Banjarmasin have prepared the lesson well, but this was not done consistently (continuously). Some teachers have not maximally prepared the lessons according to the recommended educational standards. The teacher's understanding of HOTS is broad enough, and they assume that HOTS really needs to be trained to students. However, it has not been described in their teaching activities because the HOTS aspect tends to be neglected (not well conducted).

Metacognitive awareness constitutes a part of thinking skills to continuously retain and develop. One of efforts to increase metacognitive awareness is conducting training through lecture integrated in active learning. Self and peer-assessments encourage students to be more responsible for their performance improvement and learning. The population comprised students attending Natural Science course in Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, University of Muhammadiyah Malang; while the samples were all members of the population taken by means of saturation sampling technique. The technique of data collection was by means of Schraw and Dennison MAI (Metacognition Awareness Instrument), written test, and document analysis. The result path analysis showed: 1) there are influences of self and peer assessment in active learning towards awareness of Metacognition and cognitive ability; 2) cognitive knowledge, regulation of cognitive, and combined both contributed to its influence on Metacognition awareness; 3) cognitive knowledge, regulation of cognitive, and combined both contributed to its influence on cognitive variables; and 4) metacognitive awareness variables have a direct contribution to cognitive variables that are the influence of factors outside the metacognitive awareness variable.

The objectives of this study were to analyze the validity, practicality, and effectiveness of South Kalimantan local wisdombased biology learning and its effect on student learning outcomes. The research method used is research and development. This research was in a Develop stage of Thiagarajan's Model. This development has produced learning models (lesson plans, student's worksheet, learning achievement test questions, teacher activity sheets, student activity sheets, and student response sheets). The local wisdom-based learning model were designed with seven stages using Banjar language (regional language of South Kalimantan). Model that have been developed were tested for the level of validity, practicality, effectiveness, and its effect in learning. The level of validity is determined based on the assessment and review of the four validators. To find out the effectiveness and the effect of the learning model, quasi-experimental design was applied by involving two classes at SMAN 7 Banjarmasin-Indonesia. Data were collected using a variety of instruments, namely the validity assessment sheet, the student's worksheet and lesson plan sheets, student achievement test questions, and student response sheets. Data analysis was implemented to measure the effectiveness and the effect of learning by calculating n-Gain and ANCOVA, respectively. The results, the learning tools met the "valid" criteria so that it can be implemented. Learning also concluded having good practicality criteria. Moreover, it can be seen that the application of local wisdom-based learning model and tools was quite effective in improving student learning outcomes, in contrast to learning in the control class. Furthermore, ANCOVA test concluded that there were significant differences in learning outcomes between students in the experimental and the control class.

The specific researches focused on biology teacher candidates in nowadays outbreak/pandemic (COVID-19) condition are very scarce. This study aimed to describe the profile of COVID-19 literacy level possessed by biology teacher candidate students in Indonesia. The data in this survey research was collected between January and March, 2020. The selected location was Malang, one of education city and was announced as the red zone for COVID-19 spread. The total sample were 290 students. The data collection employed the questionnaire, contained of three parts i.e. information of respondent's identity, profile of information resource, attaining time profile of COVID-19 related information, and COVID-19 literacy level. The students' literacy scores were analyzed using ANOVA to analyze the presence of student's years' effect on COVID-19 literacy of biology teacher candidate students. As a result, students' years do not have a significant effect on their COVID-19 literacy. Most students had heard of COVID-19 before the disease was reported to enter Indonesia, but only few students were categorized in high level. The campus should respond immediately to these results, considering that students act as agents of information for those around them.