‘Seeing is Believing’

DBE3 Chief of Party Stuart Weston had an opportunity to visit SMPN 19 Purworejo to see the Mathematics laboratory which has been developed there. He was surprised to see the lab which he considered absolutely excellent and took several pictures, which he’d like to share with readers. The photos reflect the learning environment and learning tasks that challenge the children to think. Each group of children is performing a different task, including learning about solid shapes, graphs and angles. All the tasks are very practical and use simple learning aids. The students have to complete the tasks and solve the problems on their own, supported by their teacher, pak Eko.

Then they have to explain their work and findings to their friends and get feedback from them. Through these presentations they show their understanding of the material they have learned. Besides this Mathematics lab, the school also has laboratory for Social Studies. The lab contains stones taken found locally, maps, a TV set and DVD player.

There are also films about the area around Purworejo some of which they have bought and some of which they have made themselves. See the picture of the lab at the bottom right. We are publishing these pictures to show the innovations and excellence developed at SMPN 19 Purworejo. We hope these pictures will inspire other schools to emulate these innovations.

Pak Eko watching a student giving an explanation to her classmates.

The SOCIAL STUDIES LABORATORY which has just been opened. The social studies teachers can be seen with the school principal, Bapak Daryanto, S.Pd.