Integrating the Certainty of Response Index (CRI) with Environmental Literacy and Creative Thinking Indicators to Analyze Misconceptions in Renewable Energy Learning among Vocational High School Students

This study aims to analyze vocational high school students’ misconceptions regarding renewable energy concepts using the Certainty of Response Index (CRI) approach, and to examine their alignment with indicators of environmental literacy and creative thinking skills. A descriptive quantitative method with a diagnostic approach was employed. The instruments developed consisted of three-tier diagnostic multiple-choice tests to assess environmental literacy and two-tier essay tests to measure creative thinking skills. All instruments were validated using Aiken’s V technique and tested on 58 students prior to implementation with 30 tenth-grade students at SMK Bina Utama Kendal. The findings indicate that the CRI effectively identified student misconceptions. The highest misconception rates were found in the subtopics of energy transition and marine energy utilization. The analysis of creative thinking skills revealed low performance in originality and elaboration indicators. Furthermore, a misalignment between conceptual understanding and students’ confidence levels was observed, highlighting the need for more contextual and reflective learning strategies. These findings underscore the potential of integrating CRI-based diagnostic instruments with STEAM-SDGs-oriented learning as an effective strategy to reduce misconceptions and enhance students’ environmental literacy and creative thinking in addressing sustainable energy issues.