Teachers’ Creativity is Key
A learning system based on higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) requires teachers to be creative in order to achieve targets effectively and to help students grasp study materials more easily.
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The 2013 national curriculum based on higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) has changed learning at schools. Teacher-centered learning mindset and strategies have become student-centered. Teachers on the frontlines of this change are called upon to be more creative and innovative in presenting study materials.
Teachers should also have a broad perspective and learn continuously in the face of changing times. This way, teachers will be able to formulate contextual problems in line with the demands of HOTS education, such as the 2013 curriculum.
HOTS education encourages students to be not only more creative, but also more daring in thinking out of the box. Developing this kind of mindset requires daily training. This way of learning involves not only right and wrong, but also the ability to grasp contextual perspectives.
“Teachers will not be able to train students to understand HOTS problems if they themselves do not understand HOTS problems, due to a lack of experience in working with such problems. This is why it is important for teachers to keep learning,” Titin Suryati Sumadewi, the high school mathematics chair of the Sumedang Subject Teachers Forum (MGMP), said on Monday (4/29/2019) in Sumedang, West Java.
TItin, who is also the vice principal of curriculum affairs at SMAN 1 Sumedang senior high school, she urged teachers to assign homework containing at least 20 percent of HOTS material. Regency/municipal MGMPs were one forum that could assist teachers still facing difficulties in understanding HOTS problems.
Comprehension process
The vice principal of curriculum affairs at SMA Kolese Kanisius Jakarta senior high school, T. Gunawan Wibowo, said that HOTS education would be a problem with teachers who saw classes as mere routine. HOTS education requires students to engage in active learning that goes beyond improving their cognitive skills in understanding facts and concepts. “The role of teachers is to prepare children for their future,” he said.
Therefore, Gunawan continued, teachers should provide learning problems not only to prepare students for the national exam, but also to help them solve everyday problems. Math and physics classes, for instance, should not only cover formulas, but also encourage students to understand the thought process behind such formulas.
In order to better grasp HOTS education, students must gain foundational knowledge on the materials they are learning. They must be trained to apply higher-order thinking skills through a reflective session at the end of class.
“Students must be encouraged to look deeper into the learning process, so that they gain much more than just cognitive skills,” said Gunawan.
Indonesian Teachers Association (IGI) Bali head I Wayan Suwirya shared a similar view, saying that teachers were required to guide their students towards solving real-life problems. The IGI, for instance, encouraged collaborative learning in the problem-based learning model of Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math (STEAM).
Suwirya said the STEAM model was in line with HOTS, as both required teachers and students to work together in solving problems.
“Memorizing formulas is necessary but no longer effective, as teachers and students face the same concrete problems in the real world,” he said.
Apart from creativity, teachers should also be provided with adequate tools to maximize HOTS education.
“In implementing HOTS, teachers are required to be more creative and innovative in presenting study materials. This must be supported by adequate equipment, such as digital technology,” said IGI Sumedang head Ade Sugiana.
However, many schools in Indonesia still lacked such equipment, including LCD projectors. Ade said that, of the 30 state senior high schools in Sumedang, only SMAN 1 Sumedang had projectors in every classroom.
Ade, who teaches English at SMPN 6 Sumedang state junior high school, said that teachers equipped with facilities like LCD projectors were better able to prepare more comprehensive study materials.
Gunawan said this would help teachers in planning classes to meet administrative requirements. “Classroom conditions will be different. However, this will help teachers prepare materials properly through good planning,” he said.
Analysis and Synchronization Center expert staff Doni Koesoema A. at the Education and Culture Ministry said that, with 24 working hours per week, teachers still had room to improve their competence. They still had time to prepare more creative and innovative materials, as teachers only had 18 classroom hours was a week. “It depends on the teacher’s motivation,” Doni said. (DNE/SEM/COK/DIA/PDS)