Portraying science activities of elementary school student that promote scientific literacy: A need assessment

This study aims to map the science activities that have been carried out by students in growing scientific literacy. This research was a survey with a descriptive approach. The research subjects were nine public elementary schools in Madiun City, Indonesia. The number of respondents were 60 students consisting of 30 fifth-grade and 30 sixth-grade students. The data collection technique used a questionnaire designed to get information on scientific activities. The data were analyzed descriptively by calculating the percentage of student responses through a questionnaire. The results showed that in general the students’ scientific activities in elementary schools in developing students’ scientific literacy were categorized as lacking (43.33%). Detailed descriptions of each aspect are: (a) aspects of the way students learn science are in the medium category (66.42%); (b) aspects of science learning activities are included in the very low category (44.51%); (c) the habituation aspect of thinking skills is included in the very low category (51.42%); and (d) the aspect of the condition of teaching materials is in the medium category (74.23%). The implication of this research is the need to foster interesting and fun science learning activities for elementary school students to support the development of scientific literacy.