Pelatihan Penulisan Karya Ilmiah Populer Bagi Siswa SMA Negeri 5 Kota Serang

The reading and writing literacy skills of Indonesian students remain a serious concern. Results from the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) recorded an Indonesian student reading literacy score of 359—the lowest since Indonesia first participated in PISA in 2000—although the relative ranking improved compared to other participating nations due to a post-pandemic global decline in scores. This low level of literacy impacts students' writing skills, specifically their ability to translate scientific concepts into popular writing accessible to the general public. This community service initiative aimed to enhance the knowledge and skills of high school students regarding popular scientific writing. The implementation method involved training on popular scientific writing conventions, writing practice, and guided revision, utilizing a one-group pretest-posttest evaluation design involving 32 students—members of the Youth Scientific Club (KIR) and school journalism groups—selected via purposive sampling. Knowledge data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using the Shapiro-Wilk normality test and a paired-sample t-test, while writing quality was assessed using a structured rubric by two evaluators (a supervising teacher and a school wall-magazine editor). The results showed an increase in the mean knowledge score from 54.2 (pretest) to 83.1 (posttest); the paired-sample t-test indicated a statistically significant difference (t=12.10; df=31; p<0.001) with a large effect size (Cohen's d=2.18). The mean writing quality score (based on a 0–100 rubric) rose from 58.6 in the initial draft to 82.3 in the final version following revision guidance (t=13.40; df=31; p<0.001). The proportion of writings deemed suitable for publication in school media increased from 15.6% to 84.4% (McNemar test, p<0.001). Participant satisfaction with the activity was rated as excellent (mean score of 4.6 on a 5-point scale). The activity proved effective in enhancing students' knowledge and skills in writing popular scientific articles; therefore, it is recommended that the program be replicated on a sustained basis, accompanied by support for publishing the work in both school media and external online platforms.