STEM–Local wisdom of the Sundanese Community: Efforts to improve students’ verbal creativity

ABSTRACT

This study aims to determine the effect of STEM–Local Wisdom learning of the Sundanese community on the verbal creativity of high school students in the concept of biodiversity. The research employed a quantitative approach with a quasi-experimental design involving 71 tenth-grade students at a high school in Sukabumi. The experimental class implemented STEM–Local Wisdom learning, while the control class used the discovery learning model. Data were collected through a verbal creativity test, a student response questionnaire, and product assessments. Test data were analyzed using the T-test and N-Gain, while questionnaire data were analyzed using the Likert scale. The results showed a significant difference between the two classes (sig. 2-tailed = 0.000) and an N-Gain of 0.74 (high category) for the experimental class and 0.59 (medium category) for the control class, indicating that STEM–Local Wisdom learning significantly affects students’ creativity. In addition, the average percentage of student response questionnaires across indicators was 91%, reflecting a high level of student engagement and satisfaction. These findings support the use of STEM–Local Wisdom learning as an effective alternative to foster students’ creativity in biology learning, particularly on the topic of biodiversity contextualized with local wisdom