The learning model is one of the critical factors in boosting student to have good learning motivation (LM) and cognitive competencies (CC). In two academic years (2016-2017), only 19.6% of Senior High School (SHS) students in Samarinda passed minimal competence in Biology subject. This research was conducted to find out a better learning model in Biology subject to replace the conventional learning (CL) model. A quasi-experiment using three learning models, i.e. Problem Posing (PP), Problem-based Learning (PBL), and CL, were conducted in all three 11th grade student classes at Public Islamic SHS (PISHS) I Samarinda in the period of odd semester of 2018/2019 academic year. The LM and CC data were collected by questionnaires, each has 40 and 9 problems, respectively. The LM and CC data were analyzed by ANOVA and ANCOVA continued by comparison test using Bonferroni test (p< 0.05), respectively. The results showed that the CL model could increase the CC, but not improve LM. However, PP and PBL model were significantly more effective (p< 0.05) in increasing both the CC and LM. The PP is superior in improving the LM, while the PBL is superior in gaining the cognitive competence.