Abstract
Disaster mitigation education—even during the current coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic—must be carried out to face the problem of flooding. It can be argued that the worst impacts of floods can be prevented by way of a young generation that is armed with Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) and disaster mitigation behaviors acquired through environmental education. This study measured HOTS related to disaster mitigation behaviors of the young generation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The research utilized a descriptive methodology, with a data collection technique conducted through online surveys. The collected data was referred to a survey that designed questions to be scaled against a HOTS skill hierarchy, and then assigned a score based on the skill weight in that hierarchy. The results highlight that most of the young generation's HOTS scores were averaged in the very low category (26.88), even though the score for flood disaster mitigation behavior was in the high category (77.40). The low score is mostly attributable to the lack of disaster mitigation education at schools, universities, and for the public in general. The study concluded that the young generation's Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) must be improved. Developing innovative learning tools and disseminating information are a necessary prerequisite for increasing these skills.
Introduction
The devastating impacts of the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19 have forced humankind to rethink and redesign its ways of dealing with crisis situations, whether they are economic recessions, epidemics, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. Amidst rising sea levels due to global climate change, Indonesia faces constant and severe challenges in relocating and rehabilitating populations in response to its sinking cities.1-3 Disaster mitigation efforts in the post-pandemic world will require further robust community participation in urban and rural societies in addition to innovation-driven preparedness and response measures. It is therefore imperative that the intellectual capacities of the current young generation, ages 15-35, especially students from high school to university levels, are examined in order to plan education and policy measures for the present and future.
As shown in the published literature, community responses to environmental problems can be correlated with environmental Higher Order thinking skills (HOTS).4-9 HOTS require cognitive skills including analytical and evaluation processes; by applying those skills, the application of disaster mitigation can be conducted efficiently and precisely. Having advanced HOTS has been shown to be a factor in more successful efforts to mitigate flood disasters, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and these skills can often be acquired through disaster mitigation education.
The younger generation has the potential to become the initiator and organizer of various mitigation activities. This is particularly important because mitigation efforts must start locally, in the area around one's residence, after which they can be expanded on a broader scale. Thus, disaster mitigation education is a crucial component in overcoming various disaster-related problems found in and around residential complexes.4,10-14
Previous research has focused on several models to develop disaster mitigation education, one of which is that learning about disaster mitigation can be enhanced through formal education channels in schools.15,16 During the COVID-19 pandemic period, studies have measured students' Higher Order thinking skills (HOTS) to help them understand their environment. The research conducted by Ichsan et al. indicates the junior high school students' HOTS scores related to environmental awareness were in the low to moderate categories, especially in evaluation skills, caused by the students being unfamiliar with conducting environmentally friendly routine activities. 17 In addition to the HOTS measurements, efforts have been made to improve environmental behavior to prevent and mitigate floods and various other natural disasters.8,12 Research in the literature has pointed out that learning activities and educational arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic have undergone a variety of significant changes—often due to the need to socially distance—which have resulted in shifts in teaching strategies.18-20
Perhaps like many other areas of the world, in Indonesia, disaster mitigation research has not been emphasized much during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, flooding is a calamity that must be seriously addressed since it happens almost every year in Indonesia. One of the most flood-prone areas is Semarang City, one of the densely populated coastal cities lower than sea level in Central Java Province of Indonesia. This makes Semarang City highly vulnerable to disasters caused by floods and other extreme weather events due to global climate change. Therefore, the youth living in the city and its suburbs were selected as the sample for this survey. This study set out to measure the HOTS in young people toward flood disaster preparedness, and their responses to flood mitigation during pandemics, like the current COVID-19 outbreak. This research attempts to understand the current situation as an effort to develop comprehensive disaster preparedness plans.
Method
This research used a qualitative survey-based technique that incorporates randomly chosen respondents for the assessment. The study was conducted during the two-month period between April 1 and May 31, 2020. The methodology involved questionnaires that were circulated online via two platforms, namely WhatsApp and Telegram, that then led to access a Google Form. The study sample was comprised of youth whose ages ranged from 17 to 20. The sample consisted of 272 people, 99 men and 173 women, living in Semarang City and surrounding areas—including Demak and Kudus District to the east, Kendal District to the west, and Ungaran District to the south of Semarang City.
The sampling methodology was simple random sampling. Variables measured in the study included HOTS relevant to flood-related topics and disaster mitigation skills. The HOTS instruments were designed by assigning 12 Items and 6 Indicators. The collected HOTS data refers to a survey that designed questions to be scaled against a HOTS skill hierarchy, and then assigned a score based on the skill weight in that hierarchy. The validity test results showed that all Items were in the valid category with a reliability value of 0.873, which can be interpreted as high reliability, thereby affirming the credibility of this study. Details of the instruments can be seen in Table 1.
HOTS Indicators of Young Generation in Disaster Mitigation
Indicators were adapted from Ichsan et al. (2019) 21
The disaster mitigation behavior instruments were measured based on a questionnaire with 10 Items and 5 Indicators. The range of scores used for the instruments was 1-5. The results of the behavior instrument validity test implied that all items were valid; the reliability score was 0.873, which comports with a high reliability. The details can be seen in Table 2.
Indicators of Mitigation Behavior
After measuring HOTS and disaster mitigation behavior, data analysis was conducted through a descriptive comparison of the statistical scores using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The analysis results were interpreted in accordance with the categories and score intervals listed in Table 3.
HOTS Category and Interval Scores of Disaster Mitigation Behavior
Source: Category adapted from Sigit et al. (2020) 22
Results and Discussion
The results showed that the students' HOTS scores were in the very low category. A large number of respondents were not able to analyze, evaluate, and create a solution to the flood problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. More detailed explanation can be seen in Table 4.
Young Generation's HOTS Scores on Flood
The average youth's HOTS score correlated to each item showed that the lowest score was related to the concept of creating an innovation-driven flood prevention program. Notably, the HOTS hierarchy consists of three cognitive aspects; the first aspect is assessing participants—analytical skills on disaster events and their effects. The second aspect is assessing participants' skills on clean-environmental awareness and open space availability. In the third aspect, participants' skills were assessed on the idea of creating mitigation, adaptation, and prevention efforts of flood disaster, including in pandemic situations.
The dismal score for this third indicator can be attributed to the fact that the young people who participated in the study have not been able to present innovations on a regularly to prevent flood disasters. Table 5 displays the Aspect-wise distribution of HOTS scores of the participants in the study. Based on the criteria, the low score in evaluation skills indicates the respondents' incapability to generate disaster preparedness plans, both in normal times and during a pandemic. The team found this to be because the respondents indicated that disaster preparedness plans were developed by governmental institutions, academia, and experts from the more elderly community.
Young Generations' HOTS Scores Related to Flood for Each Indicator, Aspect-Wise
For each category in the hierarchy, the lowest HOTS score was in the Create (C6) category, which requires young people to create a program or develop ideas about flood prevention and mitigation during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Disasters can occur unpredictably and may happen in the pandemic period. During the pandemic, social interaction in the community is limited due to health protocols to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Consequently, deliberation in the community (which is cultured via social interaction in Indonesia) has been banned. Therefore, new alternative approaches in delivering disaster preparedness information and strategies must be developed. In this way, HOTS skills shall be applied to ensure problem solving embracing whole community elements.
Scores for skills C4, C5, and C6 can be seen in Table 6.
HOTS Score for Each Aspect
The disaster mitigation behavior scores of the young generation were found to be in the high category as many respondents had participated in flood prevention efforts. This aligns with the study's hypothesis that dissemination and learning about floods can affect the degree to which people anticipate the impacts of floods and respond accordingly. The flood disaster mitigation behavior score for each Item can be seen in Table 7.
Flood Mitigation Behavior Scores of the Young Generation
The overall flood disaster mitigation behavior score was in the high category. Considering every Indicator, it can be seen that Indicator No. 2 had the lowest score, which was likely attributable to lack of experience with performing water drainage cleaning activities to prevent floods among the young generation. The Indicators are described in the Table 8.
Flood Mitigation Behavior Score for Each Indicator
Overall, the results of this qualitative research illustrate that the young generation's HOTS and behavior regarding flood prevention need to be improved. Comparison of HOTS scores for all categories that were below average confirms this conclusion. The young generation's behavior in dealing with floods is not optimal because education for flood disaster prevention during the current pandemic has not received the attention that it actually deserves. The pandemic situation has created a new-normal that is quite different from pre-pandemic times. We need several adaptations and new implementation models of disaster preparedness that should be conducted. This situation has become an additional challenge to innovate around in order to provide educational development in this subject.
Innovations in education and teaching that can be applied to disaster preparedness, include developing various learning tools at academic levels ranging from high school to university standards, as well as in public spheres. Such learning tools must be in accordance with students' cognitive development.23-26 A low HOTS score may have an impact on the difficulty of generating quick decision-making or solutions in unpredictable situations during COVID-19. Hence, development of tools, such as e-books, worksheets, and teaching materials becomes an important policy measure.
In order to best prepare for flooding and other environmental disasters, students must be able to innovate at the community-level as a whole.27-31 Innovation that can be conducted by the young generation includes: 1.) involving community groups as COVID-19 corps to educate people who cannot access technology; and 2.) activating disaster preparedness groups to help disseminate disaster information, drop off needed supplies, or even help with evacuation. Because HOTS can play an essential role in disaster mitigation and prevention when coupled with pandemics such as the current COVID-19 catastrophe, the young generation must be trained to apply these skills so that they become capable of tackling emerging environmental challenges.
A low HOTS may have an impact on the ability to generate quick decisions or solutions in unpredictable situations during COVID-19. There is a current dearth of rigorous disaster-studies programs at various academic levels, which is insufficient in providing mitigation education about sustainable solutions. HOTS needs to be embedded with local urban ecology and geography so that students can both anticipate problems and participate promptly in helping to alleviate them.
Mitigation education and the skills needed to address environmental disasters and their aftermath need to be taught at high school and university levels and shared with the public in general. These concepts must be taught as rapidly and as effectively as possible in order to overcome the aftermath of floods. Moreover, innovative studies related to geographical and environmental HOTS can be delivered in the form of electronic information through websites, social media, and other digital information-sharing applications.32-40 The sharing of information through the latest technology is an important feature in imparting a quality education. Similarly, information technologies could be used to help educate the wider urban community in addressing the problems of floods during COVID-19.
Conclusion
This study showed that HOTS scores of the young generation still need to be improved because they continue to remain in the low category. Although flood mitigation responses are already in the high category, the innovations of the 21st century skill framework are still needed. Disaster mitigation education must be carried out rigorously and extensively through all academic levels of education. Innovative approaches can be created at high school and university levels in the form of development tools within the study of environmental sciences such as geography, ecology, and sustainability, among others.
For the wider community in general, disaster mitigation education can be supplemented by providing information through social media. It is hoped that this research will help policy makers realize the importance of developing educational tools to increase effective flood disaster mitigation efforts for the urban community, especially its youth.
Footnotes
Funding Information
We would like to thank to Universitas Negeri Semarang for funding this research through a basic research scheme in 2020 with a contract number of 171.23.4/UN37/PPK.3.1/2020.
Author Disclosure Statement
No competing financial interests exist.
