Boro-boro invites students to innovate when working on projects.
“Discussions just by looking at books are DIFFICULT!”
That's what I felt as a teacher of "pubescent age students" when teaching at Darul Ikhsan Middle School, Gamer, Pekalongan. I want the students to think well, active class, but the reality is the opposite. My students come from a variety of backgrounds, some are from big cities like Jakarta, Semarang, Palembang, Pekalongan, there are also those from the Moga area, Wonobodro. Of course they are very different.

Early school standing, students in class 7 At first I just sat there, hands clasped on the table, this actually adds to the confusion, because the class is less dynamic, they are difficult to engage in two-way learning. Even when fellow teachers ask students to make free questions about the environment, Eh, students even cheated on books. I have also been invited to play games that require arguments between players. Students can only answer Yes/No when asked, without giving an opinion. In this good practice, I will share how to start making changes so that such students become students who like to have opinions, You can even innovate when working on projects.

In year 2018 I took part in the Design Thinking Class held by the Pekalongan Archipelago Learning Teacher Community with the resource person Mrs. Putri Rizki DL, who at that time was a postgraduate student at the University of Glasgow, In the same location as TPN X, it is SMK Muhammadiyah Pekalongan. From there I learned, Innovating can start with empathy, understand first. I thought too. Jangan-jangan topik diskusi terlalu jauh dari murid? Sehingga mereka kesulitan berargumen di kelas? Saya pun mulai mengganti pertanyaan-pertanyaan pemantik yang digunakan di kelas. Bukan lagi “Siapa yang tahu puisi” tapi langsung memberi konteks, “kitab salawat apa yang disukai?” lalu dianalisis keindahannya. Bukan “Ada yang tahu apa itu distribusi?”, tapi pertanyaan “Jajan yang ada di kantin asalnya darimana?”

Setelah merasa murid saya berubah keaktifannya di kelas, termasuk aktif berpendapat, siap saya pun coba menerapkan langkah design thinking saat mengerjakan projek secara berkelompok di kelas. Saat menerapkan pembelajaran berbasis projek waktu itu memang saya masih miskonsepsi, produknya sudah saya tentukan, yakni membuat Game Edukasi untuk mengatasi masalah di sekitar.

With the condition of my students with various obstacles, before I start, I also anticipate problems that could arise.

My intention is a bit reckless, because it's for class students 8 They had never heard of the concept of Design Thinking in junior high school. The teacher just heard it. In front of the blackboard I said out loud “How about we learn to make games to play together?”

The students responded enthusiastically,

“What is the game about, Mr Maman??”

I answered.

"In order to make the game, we will go through several steps first."

1. Learn Design Thinking
   I invite students to simply get to know its functions and stages in general.
2. Try some games for inspiration
   I invite my students to play board/card games like mathcat, harvesting sugar palm, etc. The hope is that students will become familiar with the various game mechanisms.
3. Identify the problem
   The problem identified is a close one in the vicinity.
4. Looking for a solution to the problem
   List solution ideas as a group.

I also invite students to identify problems, with a trigger question “What is your least favorite thing about Pondok??” As expected, they are still afraid that their “answer” is wrong, even going so far as to peek at the group, I also need to ensure that each group can have different issues raised. Until finally their various unique features emerged, from often feeling homesick for their parents, friends who fart carelessly, Can't sleep well because friends go back and forth to the toilet, etc

After that, Each group discussed ideas that could be used to overcome the problem, such as for random farting problems, Someone has an idea to make a game to find a place to fart, for problems with not sleeping soundly due to being disturbed, enlist behaviors to reduce distractions.

The students then put the agreed ideas into prototypes (prototype) I am in awe of the students, exciting discussion, they can discuss existing problems. Even after applying design thinking. Students' ideas can emerge! Since then, I have invited other teachers to learn design thinking.

Regarding this matter, Last year I consulted with Mrs. Ilona Teach First Indonesia, teacher training module maker – Merdeka Belajar Project Based Learning.

Pertanyaan saya ke Bu Ilona, “Apakah cerita saya tadi termasuk pembelajaran berbasis projek?” Bu Ilona menjelaskan, memang sering tertukar antara pembelajaran berbasis projek & pembelajaran mengerjakan proyek. Dalam Pembelajaran berbasis projek, muridlah penentu jenis karya yang dihasilkan juga masalah yang diangkat. Maka jika murid hanya disuruh membuat sesuatu, itu hanyalah pembelajaran mengerjakan projek.

Satu lagi, jika karya yang dihasilkan hanya dipresentasikan di kelas, belum diterapkan sesuai konteksnya, maka dianggap baru ditahap prototype saja, belum benar-benar utuh sebagai pembelajaran berbasis proyek. Saya pun berefleksi, ternyata seringkali saya mengatur-atur jenis karya yang dihasilkan murid. Bahkan karya yang dihasilkan belum pernah dipublikasikan maupun digunakan di luar kelas.