Developing Science Picture Cards for Conceptual Understanding in 5-6 Year Old Children

Abstract

This study is motivated by the low level of science concept understanding among children aged 5–6 years due to the dominance of teacher-centered and verbalistic learning approaches. The main objective of this research is to develop a constructivism-based picture card media that is effective in improving children’s understanding of science concepts. The method employed is Research and Development (R&D) using the 4D model (Define, Design, Develop, Disseminate). The research subjects involved 15 children from group B at RA Al-Aziziyah Kapek, West Lombok. The results indicate that the developed media achieved a very high level of validity based on expert evaluations (96% for material experts and 92% for media experts). The practicality of the media is also categorized as very good, with a teacher response score of 94%, particularly in terms of ease of use and its ability to engage children. In terms of effectiveness, there is a significant improvement in children’s science concept understanding, as evidenced by the Paired Sample T-Test results (sig. 0.000 < 0.05), with the mean score increasing from 9.87 to 15.93 and an N-Gain score of 0.60 (moderate category). Therefore, the constructivism-based picture card media is proven to be effective in enhancing science concept understanding in early childhood.