Schools in Cilegon Encourage Students to Think and Do

What do you think when you see the teacher standing still (photo 1)? Do you think he's not teaching? Not at all! He actually is applying new methods of learning which make his students active. He is listening to his students speaking in front of the class (photo 2). Before teaching his social studies lesson at SMPN 7 Cilegon, the teacher asked the students to find information from the books or the Internet on the banking system, finance, and international commerce. During the lesson, the students presented their findings to their classmates.

What was remarkable was the confidence of the students and the level of understanding of topics they were learning about. They didn't just talk about theories but provided concrete examples of things such as the function of a bank. At SMP2 Cilegon the confidence and level of student understanding was also evident in science lessons when they were discussing natural selection and evolution. The student in photos 3 described several examples of natural selection, and also explained that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is not necessarily 100% true and proven but only a theory.

In photo 4, students in SMP3 Cilegon were asked before the social studies lesson to write sociodramas on social deviance. During the lesson they acted out the sociodramas they had prepared, and discussed the problems that were deomonstrated in these sociodramas. We congratulate the teachers in Cilegon on the success of their students who are able to work independently and think critically.

Practical Work to Develop Concepts

In Cilegon interesting practical activities take place. These activities can motivate students to learn, and develop their concepts. In pictures 5 and 6 students SMPN3 Cilegon identify the position on the tongue where we sense the various flavors of food (sour, sweet, salty, bitter,). Their teacher Ibu Ninik Setiorini, was enthusiastic in helping the students.

In photo 7 you can see cards made by the teacher to give students practice in developing the concepts of equations and graphs. These card were made by a group of teachers in the Mathematics MGMP , including Ibu Komarni and Ibu Romlah (see photo 8) as well as Ibu Leni.