Comment on SI Murid Cerdas

You can read the full post of Mr. Marsigit's post on this link: http://powermathematics.blogspot.com/2010/08/elegi-permintaan-si-murid-cerdas-kepada.html Well, that's really inspiring post from Mr. Marsigit, my lecturer on university. Here is my comment on his post:

Subhanallah. Your words are really inspiring and opening eyes of every teacher and every people who wants to be teacher. Some people say that teaching is easy, you just give whatever knowledge that you know to students and they will learn it by themselves. It is not quite right because nowadays the ‘khatib’(expository) method is soo old and failed percentage so that student can’t understand the material is very high. Your words wake me up from my comfort zone in teaching because I and some other of my friends does not practice the word ‘to facilitate’ in our taching method as private teacher. Our students always tell us that their teacher in school make them bored, mathematics become so wasteful for them, but you know what Sir? Then by coincidence we teach our students exactly like their teacher did on school! So, it is not easy to teach mathematics, not only to bright students but also for those who are lack on confidence in learning mathematics. Please keep teaching and guiding us into bright and good mathematics teachers Sir, because we don’t want to become dzalim to our students. Thank You.

Comment on Post SBI

You can read the full post of Mr. Marsigit's post on this link: http://powermathematics.blogspot.com/2011/12/sekolah-bertaraf-internasional.html. Well, that's really inspiring post from Mr. Marsigit, my lecturer on university. Here is my comment on his post:

Assalamu’alaikum wr wb Sir. Your note about Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional has opened my eyes that it is necessary to make a progress in our educational system although it is not easy to reach that. I came from a city, especially school, that seems making not any progress in education. In my 3 years educational era in school, the method of teaching learning was same. There was seems no relationship with university and of course there was no an activity called ‘Lesson Study’. Well, it is so shame but I don’t know now, I hope there are significant progresses. There is still misunderstanding in our Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional and Rintisan Sekolah Bertaraf Internasional in defining the definition of SBI and RSBI. They concern on progress of media of teaching, brand new looking of school, which impact on the increasing of tuition fee, but they forget that there must be the increase on teacher itself. The way teacher delivers the matter, the way teacher controls the class, the way teacher makes student actives. Like what you said on class, the increase of technology in teaching media, like progress from OHP to LCD, did not make teacher better instantly. It should be the bold words for every teacher because if teacher does not make progress in way of his/her teaching, technology will be so wasteful. I hope when we make a practical teaching on SBI/RSBI schools, we can get the real experience how to teach on real situation of SBI/RSBI. Please keep on guiding us Sir. Thank You.

Studying the Method of Teaching Mathematics Across Multicultural Context

Seto Marsudi
Mathematics Education 2009
Yogyakarta State University

A. Introduction

Indonesia is a developing country. In the development, Indonesia needs his people to build the country into a country that established well and strong. How can the people build the country into the state that dreamed by everyone? Of course, building and enhancing Indonesia can only be done by using science. Without science, there will be no progress. Indonesia will only be a country that dreams for something that other countries have. We will never have train, bus, and plane without science. We could not improve the usefulness of our assets without science.

Mathematics is one kind of science that Indonesia needs. Mathematics is base of every kind science in the world. You can not make a society without mathematics there. But, we are facing the problem. The problem is, so many people in Indonesia have low skill in mastering and understanding mathematics, and also the young generations is including there. How can we apply mathematics if we have not understood it well?

In this case, we ought to see and learn from other countries in the world. We are not alone in this world. We have so many neighbor countries which are developed well by using their science, by using their mathematics. How can Malaysia build their monorail? How can Japan always improve their technology? How can Russia be one of the leaders in military technology? They use their knowledge. They use their technology. They use their mathematics.

We can ask, learn, discover, research, find out and apply their knowledge to our country. Although we are different in many things, especially culture, the mathematical thinking does not work by that way. It does not care about the diversity that human have, it cares on as long as you are human you can build your own mathematical thinking. Mathematics is through the multicultural culture in this world.

B.  The Same Problem of Difficulties in Teaching Mathematics

We have so many difficulties in teaching mathematics to students, the young generations of Indonesia. It is shown by our score in National Examination is still low. In other case, students think that it is so hard to understand mathematics because it is an abstract thing. Something that they can not find out how they can relate the material into their real world. They integrate, differentiate, draw a curve, find the volume, but what for? It is so hard for them to reveal the answer. There something wrong in our system of learning mathematics.

In other side of the world, our neighbor countries also have faced same kind of problem. Japan has been downed by bomb that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Japan lost so many of their teachers, especially mathematics teacher. Malaysia, during 1960, faced great problem in teaching knowledge to their students. They even ‘imported’ teacher from Indonesia to teach there, including mathematics teacher. But we can look now that they have passed the troubles. They have developed now.

C.  Seeing Other Countries’ Context

It is not impossible to learn and enhance our knowledge of mathematics by studying to other countries. It does not matter whether we eat rice and English eat bread, we wear batik and Japanese wears kimono. The diversity is some kind of beauty that God creates in this world. The diversity does not stop and block the way of mathematical thinking, it enhances and improves the mathematical thinking.

There are so many alternatives that other country has that can be applied in our country to improve the process of understanding mathematics -which Freudenthal said as ‘mathematization’- and also to improve the process of teaching mathematics.

Singapore

As Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong said in his inaugural National Day Rally Speech in 2004 urged Singapore schools to “Teach Less” so that our students can “Learn More”. In 2005, the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore adopted the Teach Less, Learn More (TLLM) movement which is about teaching better, to engage our learners and prepare them for life, rather than teaching for tests and examinations. There is more quality in terms of classroom interaction, room for expression, and the learning of life-long skills such as thinking through innovative and effective approaches. At the same time, there is less focus on rote-learning, repetitive tests, and following prescribed answers and set formulae.

Russia

Russia has other method to improve their teaching learning process and differentiate with other country, they said it as Open Lessons. Ivan Vysotskiy from Moscow Institute for Open Education said that Open Lessons (OL) were the usual studying form when students begin their work at schools as young teachers. One can say that OL play the same role in Russia as LS do in Thailand, Japan and other economies joined to the project. But the understanding of OL is slightly wider, than LS. Russian school practices OL for tens of years using them for different purposes

(a) Training young teachers;

(b) Exchange of experiences between teachers;

(c) As educational tools for continuous teachers’ education programs;

(d) As part of teacher’s certification program (every five years);

(e) Presentation of new education technologies, editions, or methods.

Malaysia

Ui Hock CHEAH said that the current focus of teaching and learning in Malaysia places emphases on the processes of mathematical thinking in addition to the integration and application of technology. The importance of mathematical thinking is translated in the curriculum to include the various mathematical processes: problem solving, mathematical communication, mathematical reasoning and mathematical connection. The current classroom practice seems to focus on getting the students to arrive at the procedures as determined by the teachers.   

Japan

The work of Minoru Ohtani from Kanazawa University is collaborating the Realistic Mathematics Education with social theory of Vigotsky. They proposed a unit design for teaching proportion in a sixth-grade of Japanese elementary mathematics classroom based on cultural-historical theory in which cultural tools such as table, graph and formula become symbol of proportion in collective discourse. They described a hypothetical learning teaching trajectory only for numerical table. Results from the interpretation of the data reveal that the process of symbolizing consists of four phases. This hypothetical trajectory could be applied for of symbolizing graph and formula as well. Teaching experiment reveal that classroom collective discourse functions as social resources for promoting process of symbolization. Through collective discourse, the cultural tools are gradually appropriated by the pupils as cognitive means for regulating their personal mathematical activity. Thus, process of symbolizing of cultural tools is characterized by changes of their function form collective use to private one.

Marsigit

Marsigit thinks that for Indonesian context, the aim of mathematics education from now on is still urgently to promote mathematical thinking and to take it into actions. Accordingly, these lead to suggest that it needs to conduct classroom-based research to investigate the necessary driving factors towards students’ ability to develop mathematical thinking. Marsigit’s work indicated that mathematics would have to be applied to natural situations, any where real problems appear, and to solve them, it is necessary to use the mathematical method. The knowledge, skills, and mathematical methods are the foundation to achieve the knowledge on science, information, and other learning areas in which mathematical concepts are central; and to apply mathematics in the real-life situations.

D. Conclusion

There are so many knowledge and new informations by studying to other countries. They have different culture and method of teaching their students but they also face the same problem in mathematics, just like us. By learning and discovering their hints and their ways of improving the skill of mathematics, we can also improve our skill of mathematics.

One thing that people should concern is not all of other country ways work on our country. It is because they apply their way based on their culture, their environment, etc. We have to modify into our culture, our environment, and everything that Indonesia-based. We also have to beware that we should not absorb all of their ways because we can lost our identity. We can lost our characteristics. Learn and adopt just only what we want and just what we need, not all of them.

References

Marsigit. 2007. Mathematical Thinking Across Multilateral Culture. [Online]. http://staff.uny.ac.id/sites/default/files/penelitian/Marsigit,%20Dr.,%20M.A./Mathematical%20Thinking%20Across%20Multilateral%20Culture_Makalah%20Marsigit%20Semnas%20di%20Jurdik%20Matematika%20UNY%202007.pdf [November 21^st, 2011].

Peggy Foo. 2006. Improving Lessons on Mathematical Thinking through Lesson Study ~3CaseStudies.[Online].http://apec-lessonstudy.kku.ac.th/upload/paper%20apec/Peggy%20Foo.pdf [December 1^st, 2011].

Ivan Vysotskiy. 2011. Stochastic Line In Russian Junior School (7 - 9 grades). [Online]. http://apec-lessonstudy.kku.ac.th/upload/paper%20apec/Ivan.pdf [December 1^st, 2011].

 Ui Hock CHEAH. 2010. Improving Assessment in the Primary Mathematics Classroom through Lesson Study. [Online]. http://www.crme.kku.ac.th/APEC/APEC%202010/Paper/Ui%20Hock%20CHEAH.pdf [December 1^st, 2011].

Minoru Ohtani. 2007.  Design Research in Mathematics Education: in Case of Teaching Direct Proportion. [Online]. http://www.crme.kku.ac.th/APEC/APEC%202010/Paper/Minoru%20OHTANI.pdf [December 1^st, 2011].

A Memory and a Regret for my Beloved Grandpa(s) part I

Jam di weker gue nunjukin ud mau hampir jam setengah 2 pagi. Tapi ga ada salahnya kan kalo nulis dulu sebelum tidur? hehe

Well, sebenernya tulisan ini terinspirasi dari tulisan temen gue (Nidya) di blognya dia yang nyebutin kalo dia bener-bener kehilangan sosok mbah putrinya yang notabene dia rawat ampe akhirnya Allah manggil mbahnya. Bentuknya puisi gitu sih jadinya cukup ngliat susunan katanya aja udh sedih.N akhirnya gue mikir, iye ye? Gue juga ngerasa kaya gitu nid. .

Di Medio 2011 ni gue kehilangan dua orang mbah gue n dua-duanya laki-laki-orang Jawa nyebutnya Mbah Kakung alias Mbah laki-laki. Mbah yang pertama adalah mbah gue yang di Jogja ini. Emang sih almarhum bukan mbah kandung gue cz mbah tu pamannya babeh gue (adik'a ibu'a bokap gue,got it?) tapi bokap udah nganggep die sbg bapak kandungnya soalnya bokap gue udah ditinggal bapaknya dari kecil n dari kecil ampe gede ngikut mbah gue ini. Ribet amat yak jelasinnya? Paka nama aja lah, nama almarhum itu Senen Hadi Prayitno jadi gue manggilnya Mbah Senen. Sedari kecil gue udh seneng sma simbah yg ini soalnya dia tinggalnya di Jogja (which is kalo lebaran jarang bgt kesana dr kecil) n die mantan perwira TNI AU yang ikut pembebasan Irian Barat jadinya pas kecil gue seneng abis denger cerita die ttg masa-masa baheula ntu.

Singkat cerita, gue udh kuliah n gue tadinya tinggal di rumah Mbah Senen, berdua sma bibi gue namanya Mba Yuli (bibi kok dipanggil mbak? jangan heran..). Tapi Mbah Senen udah pikuuuuun abis. Jadinya tiap gue or Mba Yuli belum pulang ke rumah ntu mesti ditungguin di luar rumah, di pinggir jalan, padalah jalannya tu jalan umum yang dilewatin motor n mobil (rame pokoknya lah) ga kebayang ngerinya? Akhirnya gue mutusin ngekos supaya ga ngerepotin soalnya kerjaan mahasiswa kan bisa ampe malem tuh, bisa-bisa mbah gue sakit dah nungguin gue blom balik ke rumah. Tentu aje bokap ngemanahin supaya mbah sering-sering ditengok soalnya udah tua, pikun, n cuma tinggal berdua (sendirian kalo misal mba Yuli kerja). Tapi alangkah parahnya, selama dua tahun berselang gue jaraang banget ke rumah mbah. padahal jarak kos sama rumah dkeet banget. Tapi emang gue gaya banget dah sibuk kegiatan organisasi ini itu jadinya males kesana.

Biar kata gitu, tapi tetep lah gue beberapa kali nemenin simbah kalo sendirian di rumah pas gue lagi kosong ga ada agenda. Ya paling gue tidur disana or bareng makan disana. Kadang juga gue beliin makanan walau emang ujung"nya yg ngabisin ya gue" juga. Parah abis dah gue jd cucu. kadang juga bokap ampe nyembur-nyembur gara-gara gue kalo laporan udah ke rumah mbah apa blum gue cuma bisa jawab "B b belum Pak".

Mbah Senen sebenernya meninggal di Malang, di rumah anaknya yang kedua, Mba Ndari namanya. Mbah meninggal gara" sakit dibawa ke RS akhirnya dipanggil di sana. Tapi yang aneh bukan disana, tapi di momen sebelum Mbah terakhir kali meninggalkan Yogya pas masih hidup.

Jadi ceritanya itu pas hari sabtu pas mbah malemnya mau pergi ke Malang naek kereta dianter Mba Yuli. Gue ga dapet kabar kalo mbah mau berangkat malem itu juga. Tapi ntah kenapa gue dapet feeling kalo pagi itu gue kudu ke rumah mbah (ga cuma emng gue lg laper n males beli makan). Bener aja, simbah lagi sendirian di rumah. Gue kaget cz biasanya ttp ada yg nemenin, ntah tetangga or sodara gue yg laen. Ya akhirnya seharian bener-bener gue temenin dh simbah. Sempet juga gue anter cukur rambut n muter-muter kompleks sambil naek motor. Sepanjang jalan die nyerocos aja ttg rumah-rumah, jalan, kya "Mbiyen neng kene ono omah gedhe lho le (Dulu di sini ada rumah gede lho nak)" kaya gitu-gitu. Gue cuma iya-iye aja berasa nganggep ga penting abis. Tapi gue bisa liat raut bahagia n kebanggaan dia pas ditanya mba Yuli "Udah potong rambut Pak?" dia jawab " Udah" sambil pamer kepalanya gitu. Gue cengar cengir aja disitu.
Malemnya gue sama sodara gue nganter mbah ke stasiun buat naek kereta jam dua belas malem lebih naek Malabar buat ke Malang. Yah, itu saat" terakhir gue liat mbah gue idup n senyum ke beliau. Dadahnya die berasa nyelekit abis kalo tau kejadian selanjutnya bahwa die kembali ke Jogja pas udh ga bernyawa.

Info kalo Mbah Senen meninggal pun bener-bener ga disangka. Allah emng penuh rahasia n kejutan kali ye? Jadi pas hari itu pas Hima (Himpunan Mahasiswa-organisasi yg gue ikutin) lagi Up Grading buat pengurus-pengurusnya. Yang jd panitianya tu yg pada jadi kepala bidang di Hima, kita nyebutnya PH (Pengurus Harian) n gue salah satu diantaranya cz gue Kepala Biro Humas. Gue bener-bner ga da feeling jelek or apa gitu. Gue kesana bener-bener sneng-sneng ria sma tmen-temen soalnya tempatnya keren (Waduk Sermo, Kulon Progo, you have to check that out man!) n gue kebagian moto-moto jadinya sliweran ksana kemari.

Pas mau ke rada siang gitu, gue ngecek HP ternyata bokap nelpon gue udh belasan kali. Gue kaget, ga biasanya bokap miscall gue berkali-kali kya gini. Tadi pagi juga gue udh ngasih tau kalo gue ada acara di Kulon Progo. Akhirnya gue sms 'ada apa pak?' n bapak gue langsung nelpon n ngabarin "Mas sekarang bisa ke Mundu (rumah mbah) gak sekarang? Mbah Senen meninggal" sambil sesenggukan gitu. Bokap gue emang tampang preman bung, tapi kalo urusan ortu n kluarganya dia bner-bner berasa jadi anak kecil yang ga bisa nahan nangis. Sontak gue kaget, suer! Gue ga bergeming trus gue ga bnyak basa-basi lgsg jawab "Bisa Pak!" Gue duduk perlahan di base camp panitia dimana cuma ada temen gue Aldi, Rosa n Pastita (another PH). Mereka pada nanyain ada apa, mungkin liat air muka gue horor gtu kali y? gue cuma bisa jawab "Mbahku meninggal, aku harus pulang sekarang" Gue, ga sadar menitikkan air mata pas gue ngetik sms ke cewe gue :

Innalillahi wa innalillahi roji'un
yank
mbah Senen meninggal
a kudu pulang ke Mundu sekarang
mohon do'anya ya sayang. .
assalamu'alaikum

Padahal saat itu gue lagi marahan sama cewe gue tapi gue bener-bener ga bisa nahan perasaan sedih gue, gue mau laporin ke siapa lagi? Akhirnya minjem motor Rosa (motor gue ban'a secara ajaib bocor n ditambalin sma Aldi pada akhirnya) gue pamit ke Rizki, ketua Hima gue n mnta tolong supaya berita ini jangan ampe kesebar soalnya gue ga mau ngerusak mood temen-temen yg lagi seneng-seneng disana. Pada akhirnya amanah dr gue emng dilaksanakn bner-bner sama tu anak soalnya ga ada yg tau kabar ini selain temen-temen PH. Gue kebut tu motor sampe Mundu.

Sesampainya disana gue-cuma make training n baju bau ditutupin jaket hima-lgsg dipeluk Mba Yuli n sodara-sodara gue yg lain. Gue cuma bisa berusaha nenangin Mba Yuli yang emang paling sedih disana, secara gitu dr lahir smpe gede ga pernah ditinggal bapaknya. Gue cuma bisa bantu ngurus persiapan ampe jenazah dteng.

Jenazah dateng malemnya, sekitar jam dua pagi, gue langsung bantu-bantu persiapan jenazah dari dateng, dimandiin, dikafanin ampe disholatin. Berhubung gue cucu atu-atunya yang gede n laki-laki ya gue jdi sksi sibuk ksana-kemari. Disana gue juga kudu nemenin n mnghibur mbah kandung gue, Mbah Sanem namanya, soalnya dia juga sedih lah pastinya wong adiknya meninggal gitu. Bokap n keluarga dr Tangerang dateng jm 3 pa 4 pagi ya? gue lupa soalnya gue ketiduran di sofa gara" kecapean.

Besok paginya mbah Senen dimakamin di dket rumah. Alhamdulillah lancar. Ada temen-temen gue jg yg dteng, Latif, Syahlan, Tanto, Eko, Teguh, Mas Faizin. Entah mereka dpet kabar drimana soalnya emng gue ga ngasih tau, tapi gue bener" makasih bgt cz yah se ga nya da temen gue yg mau rela mampir gitu buat do'ain mbah gue. Thanks guys.

Kenangan gue sama Mbah Senen lumayan banyak. Lebih karena gue juga tinggal di Jogja pas kuliah n gue ngerasain suka-dukanya simbah selama 2 tahun terakhir masa beliau hidup. Dari yang sakit lah sampe mbah ngilang gara" ngeloyor pergi dr rumah gitu aja buat jalan" n ga bilang siapa". Di antara sodara-sodara gue yg lain, Mba Ari n Catur emang gue yg paling dket sma ni Mbah. Jadinya gue tetep ngerasa keilangan banget. Sekarang yg gue rasain cuma nyesel aja. Kenapa dulu ga gini? Kenapa dulu ga gitu? Tapi ya percuma juga kan? Pesen Bokap gue: "Sering-sering do'ain simbah ya mas, Yasinin kalo perlu." Beh, u can trust me on that.

Gue cuma bisa berdo'a supaya Allah nerima mbah gue seutuhnya. Gue ga tau pas masa mudanya separah apa or sebae apa. yang jelas sebagai cucu ya gue cuma bisa do'ain supaya mbah gue tenang di alam sana. Aamiin. .

-cerita mbah gue yang atu lgi ntar lgi ya? gue ngantuk..kudu kuliah pagi pula. C U 

Review of WAWASAN TENTANG STRATEGI DAN APLIKASI PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA BERBASIS KOMPETENSI

WAWASAN TENTANG

STRATEGI DAN APLIKASI PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA

BERBASIS KOMPETENSI

Drs. Marsigit MA, Dosen Jurusan Pendidikan Matematika

FMIPA UNIVERSITAS NEGERI YOGYAKARTA

Reviewed by: Seto Marsudi (09301241009)

Mathematics Education Regular 2009
(http://rasamalaempat.blogspot.com/)

Competency-based mathematics education emphasizes the skills that should be possessed by graduates; so that the curriculum was developed based on the elaboration of basic skills competency standards. Standards of competence is an ability that can be performed or displayed in the learning of mathematics, whereas the minimum basic skills is an ability in mathematics courses that must be possessed by students. Basic skills may include the ability of affective, cognitive and psychomotor.

Breath of competency-based curriculum is the development of a learning experience first-hand, contextual teaching and learning (CT & L), meaningful teaching, with attention to life skills  in the form of generic skills (personal skills, social skills, academic skills and proficiency skills) . All skills / competencies that are developed with the principle of assessed valuation / assessment an authentic not only on memory and comprehension level but up to the application.

The curriculum is designed to be in the process of learning mathematics, students are able to perform search activity patterns and relationships; develop creativity with imagination, intuition and invention; perform problem solving activities; and communicate mathematical thinking to others.

Experiences and learning activities are activities that students need to be done in order to achieve basic skills and learning materials. Judging from the competencies to be achieved, the experience can learn to memorize, use, and find; viewed from the side of the material blessings with the learning experience can be acquired facts, concepts, principles, etc.. The learning experience can be obtained both inside and outside the classroom. The learning experience students need to be supported by the availability of source material, either a direct object and indirect object that is contextual. Thus, the learning strategies can be developed: (1) emphasis on problem solving, (2) learning in various contexts of everyday life, (3) encourage students as active learners, (4) appreciate the uniqueness of students and pay attention to the diversity of student’s differences , (5) learning through cooperative learning, and (6) develop the assessment in the test system.

In the arrangement of syllabus, teachers must include source material which is used as reference by using the rules of writing in accordance with applicable regulations. References used should be consistent with the implementation of competency-based curriculum and learning with contextual approach to teaching and learning (CT & L).