THE INFLUENCE OF THE NATURAL PRODUCT CHEMISTRY LABORATORY ON DECISION MAKING SKILLS

The study of secondary metabolites is the core of Natural Product Chemistry. The process of isolating secondary metabolites from Sasambo plants, which are medicinal plants used by indigenous tribes in West Nusa Tenggara province, Indonesia, has the potential to be integrated into the Natural Product Chemistry Laboratory. Students learn how to extract, fractionate, purify, and identify the structure of secondary metabolites through Natural Product Chemistry Laboratory activities. With various alter-native actions related to the process of isolating secondary metabolites, these laboratory exercises can be utilized to help stu-dents improve their decision-making skills. This study aims to investigate the impact of Natural Product Chemistry Laboratory Based on Medicinal Plants Sasambo (NPCL-MPS) on students' decision-making skills. This is quasi-experimental research with nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest research design. The participants are 63 students who enrolled in 6th semester students of the chemistry education department at one of the state universities in West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, for the 2019/2020 academic year, which were divided into experimental and the control classes. The findings show that the NPCL-MPS does positively influences students' decision-making skills