A teacher must keep learning to keep up with the times. The position of teachers in today's schools is beginning to shift, from its beginnings as an information center 100% for students to become a learning facilitator for students. Today's learning can be accessed anywhere and anytime, through various learning resources, both paid and free. The students faced by teachers today are required to be able to find solutions to problems when they enter the world of work. Creativity, Skills and innovation in this era have become an urgency that everyone must have if they want to be the best in their field.
According to the program Trends in Internasional Mathemathics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2018, The average science achievement score of Indonesian students is lower than the international average. This shows that the critical thinking skills of Indonesian students are still low. In fact, when students have finished their education, they will start looking for work or creating jobs in the community. Current conditions in the field require skilled workers, able to provide solutions to problems, and innovative. The STEM approach integrates science, technology, engineering and mathematics, thus enabling students to understand knowledge comprehensively, increase students' interest in science and technology, and improve problem solving skills. Therefore, implementing STEM learning in schools is important as an alternative for getting students to think critically, creative, innovative, and solution.
The current condition of students at SMP IT AL JAWAHIR is that they do not have good enough reasoning power. They are not used to finding solutions to problems and there are still many who do not dare to appear to speak in front of the class. As an alternative to overcome this, teachers carry out STEM learning related to environmental problems in science subjects.
The series of STEM learning activities applied to students begins with identifying problems based on videos shown by the teacher. There are two videos shown, namely the video entitled "Where does your plastic waste journey end?” followed by a viral news video twitter regarding Indomie packaging waste 19 last year which still has not been resolved. Apart from showing videos, the teacher provides lighter questions and questions that are developed based on students' answers. Then ask students to propose solutions to the problems discussed. Based on the problem of instant noodle packaging, students look for solutions by identifying each part of the POPMie packaging that can be reused and knowing its use. Next, students are assigned to read the reading material given by the teacher about edible film. Then each group discussed the composition and dosage of ingredients that would be used to make edible film that was oil resistant and soluble in water at temperature 600C in less than 3 minute. Setelah dibuat dan dicetak, edible film basked in the sun. Then on a different day an oil resistance test was carried out by dissolving the edible film in oil. Meanwhile, the solubility test was carried out using water at temperature 600C which is heated using a glass beaker in class. Test results for each sample, in the data in the table spreadsheet. Then the data on ingredients along with the quantities used and the properties produced by samples from all groups are compared to obtain the best composition.
After the action is carried out, it can be seen that through activities in STEM learning, students are able to reason when determining the quantities of ingredients needed to find the best product composition., as well as in drawing conclusions, Students are able to propose options as solutions to problems raised by the teacher through videos that are linked to facts that occur in everyday life., and dare to appear in front of the class through presentations of their group's products.
