Guided Inquiry-Based Learning Integrated with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) for Creative Thinking Skills

Abstract

Science learning still faces challenges in developing students' creative thinking skills, especially in materials related to sustainability issues. This study was conducted to examine the enhancement of students' creative thinking skills, the implementation of learning activities, and students' responses following the application of the guided inquiry model integrated with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) pedagogical elements in renewable energy learning. The research employed a pre-experimental approach using a One-Group Pretest–Posttest Design. The participants were 30 students from class IX-D at UPT SMPN 18 Gresik during the 2025/2026 academic year. Data were collected through creative thinking skills assessments, learning implementation observation sheets, and student response questionnaires. The findings indicated that students' creative thinking skills improved, as reflected by an N-Gain score of 0.54, which falls within the moderate category. Furthermore, the Wilcoxon test results revealed a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores (p < 0.05), while the effect size value of 0.877 showed a very strong influence. The implementation of learning obtained a very good category, and the students' response showed that the category was very agreeable with a percentage of 85%. Therefore, the implementation of a guided inquiry model incorporating ESD pedagogical elements proved effective in enhancing students' creative thinking skills in renewable energy topics. These results suggest that integrating ESD into science education can contribute to the development of 21st-century competencies while increasing students' understanding and awareness of sustainability-related challenges.