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Using the Environment in PAKEM
PAKEM in the Rice Fields
Active learning involves learning by doing. Students who are actively engaged in gathering and processing information learn more effectively than those who are passive recipients of knowledge.
During the PAKEM training held in the Gambiran subdistrict of Banyuwangi, East Java, students learnt about rice farming first hand from the local farmer, rather than reading about it in their textbook.
The teacher planned an active learning experience for her students, which involved a visit to the rice field, just a short walk up the road from the school.
The preparation for the lesson included deciding upon the focuses for the visit, organising students in groups and deciding what the groups would be doing both during the visit and on their return to school. This included guided observation and activities in three groups.
Each group was given a different focus for their observation. The teacher then spoke to the farmer about her plans so he could prepare for the visit. Other adults were also invited along to assist during the visit.
The students were very excited when they heard they were going out to the rice field and were very motivated to complete the tasks given to them.
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The students preparing their materials to take with them to the rice field
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The teacher prepared the students by directing their observations to three main areas:
- Observing and finding out about the farmer's tools;
- Observing and finding out about care of the rice field and the development of the rice crop and
- Observing and finding out about the role of pesticides in keeping the rice crop healthy.
By directing students what to observe before they left the classroom, the teacher ensured students would be gathering useful information, which would form the basis of their work back in the classroom after their visit. Without this direction, the lesson would have been less effective.
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The students listened as the farmer explained how tools help him to tend the rice crop.
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Students take notes about the farmer's tools and ask questions about the use of fertiliser on the rice crop.
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The students asked the farmer many questions about his tools and recorded the information on notepaper. This information would be used later to help the students report on their visit.
The farmer allowed the students to role-play the seeding of the field and cutting of the rice using the tools. The students also took part in clearing some of the weeds from the roots of the growing rice.
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The students were totally involved and active throughout the visit and you can see by the looks on their faces they enjoyed the experience. Upon their return to the classroom, the students were divided into three groups.
One group was asked to write about the tools the farmer used to help him tend the rice crop. The students had lists and drawings to help them complete this task. These notes provided a framework for the development of their report.
The information gathered was now to be processed and the students were to write about the farmer's tools in their own words, describing the tools and why the farmer needed them.
The second group was asked to write about caring for the rice field. The information they had gathered from asking questions and listening to the farmer was used to support their writing.
The third group was asked to write about the role of pesticides in caring for the rice field and could describe the tools used and why pesticides were necessary.
Students who are used to copying writing from the blackboard need encouragement to write in their own words, but most of them managed to complete their tasks satisfactorily.
Writing a report in their own words requires them to organise their thoughts and communicate meaningful information. Making a report such as this demands much more activity on behalf of the students than does filling in dots in a workshee
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To write a report in their own words children have to be able to organise their thoughts and communicate meaningful information.
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The visit to the rice fields could be used by the teacher to develop a unit of work over a number of weeks. Follow up lessons may include activities in science (the growth of plants, crops etc) mathematics (investigation into measurement, area, volume etc) IPS (investigation of the weather, seasons, cycles of the rice crop) and language skills (writing reports, narrative stories about the rice farmer, traditional tales about the rice fields).
This article was written by Lynne Hill, our training consultant from Australia who was in Indonesia for over two months from January to March 2004 to support MBE activities.
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SD Pati Lor
One class 5 teacher doing practical teaching at SD Pati Lor during the PAKEM training also used the environment as a learning resource by giving the children the task of finding information about the kinds of work people do in the area around the school.
The students from SD Pati Lor interviewed people selling meatballs and other kinds of food in the school yard. They asked the names of the people, what sort of education they had received, how to make meatballs, what ingredients were needed and how much profit they made in a day.
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