Etho-morphology Using Smartphone Apps to Identify Aves
Iwan Setia Kurniawan, Fransisca Sudargo Tapilow, Topik Hidayat, Wawan Setiawan

Sekolah Pascasarjana, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Bandung
Department of Biology Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Bandung
Deparment of Computer Science Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Bandung
Deparment of Biology Education, Universitas Pasundan Bandung

Abstract

Identification skills are indispensable in field activities. With the approach of etho-morphology assisted smartphone application makes it easier for students to identify Aves in Zoology Vertebrate course. We developed i-bird applications in smartphones that are used to identify the Aves based on their morphology on field activities. The purpose of this research is to describe the ability of student identification in field activity of the course. Using quasi experiment, this research involved 93 prospective Biology teachers which were conducted at Bandung Zoo. The results showed that the identification skills of prospective biology teacher were in sufficient category (2.78). The results of the analysis of several indicators of identification skills indicated that the highest identification is in indicator 1 (I-1 = 3.33) that is to write the morphological characteristics of each species based on morphology. The lowest identification skills indicator was found in indicator 5 (I-5 = 2.49) that is making a simple determination key. The identification skills of prospective Biology teachers are in sufficient category, therefore it needs to be improved in the future with various appropriate approaches or methods. Through questionnaires we foundthat low ability of students to make simple determination keys due to limitations of camera resolution. This probably becomes a constraint when identifying the characteristics of each species of the Aves.

Keywords: etho-morphology, smartphone application, i-bird, field trip, zoology vertebrata

Topic: 5. Biology Education