MGMP Makes Science Learning Meaningful

SMPN 1 Rengasdengklok, Karawang

THROUGH BTL4 training from DBE3, the Teachers' Working Group (MGMP) for science in SMPN 1 Rengasdengklok has helped teachers to realize that MGMP is not only a place to solve daily teaching problems, but also a workshop, a place for sharing and reviewing different concepts, methods and other issues related to improving the quality of learning. With this understanding, the MGMP will be sustainable and will always be needed and well organized.

With the guidance of DBE3 District Facilitators in testing and improving learning programs, the Science MGMP is able to encourage factual and up-to-date innovation and problem solving. This means that teachers can solve problems effectively, efficiently and in a timely manner. Sometimes teachers are satisfied with the learning materials they have designed, only to find that not all their students can grasp them as expected. Teachers then make improvements in the worksheets to maximize the effects on students' learning.

Sometimes, improvements have had to be done several times. It is because new challenges will always come up and they have to be considered accordingly. The Science MGMP in SMPN 1 Rengasdengklok has made a positive contribution to the school; one of them is promoting teaching and learning methods that allow students to quickly grasp learning materials so that teachers spend less time teaching. This allows teachers to support students through 'team teaching', by which students get individual care and attention, even in an oversize class of 40 students.

Similar improvements were also observed in MTs Negeri Rawamenta, where students were able to create a simple yet representative linear motion graph using readily available materials, such as raffia, balls, and a stopwatch. An interesting study on friction theory was developed by Ms Epi Pitriah, S.Pd. From the experiment, students found that friction is not merely an obstruction, but can also be beneficial such being used as a brake in a vehicle.

Ms. Epi also showed a real-life example of friction to her students by stacking up books on which she gradually added weights. This stack of books was then pulled using a spring. Through this experiment students were able to prove physics theories.