DBE3 Assesses the Impact on Students

DBE3 has conducted tests on students in 54 partner schools in 25 districts to assess their competencies in Bahasa Indonesia, Mathematics, and English. The tests were first given to the grade 8 students between February and April 2009. The tests were then repeated in the same schools in February and March 2010. The tests focused on students’ life skills, including communication skills: reading and writing in Bahasa Indonesia, listening, reading, writing and speaking in English. The mathematics test was orientated towards problem solving and the understanding of and ability to apply concepts.

Student Assessment in DBE3 Partner Schools in 2009-10

The chart on the right shows substantially increased scores in all tests. In Bahasa Indonesia the reading score went up from 66.6% to 73%, the writing score increased from 51.6% to 60.4%. In Mathematics the score increased a lot from 32% to 41.7%. Scores in the English test for listening, reading, writing went up from 38.4% to 49.7%, while the score in the English speaking test increased from 50.4% to 68.1%. We believe that these increasing scores reflect changes in teaching learning activities which have occurred in many schools. Students read more to get information and write more in their own words. They are also given opportunities to hold discussions and solve problems for themselves.
We should like to congratulate teachers in DBE3 partner schools on this achievement.

Simple Media Make Learning More Meaningful

A NUMBER of interesting points were observed during the workshops which followed the Better Teaching and Learning 3 training in East Java. One of them was the creativity of teachers in developing learning media. These teachers had created a variety of learning media to support meaningful learning in their classrooms. Great work!!!!

There is an Indonesian saying ‘tak ada rotan akar pun jadi’ (when there is no rattan, you can use root). Things that look worthless can be magically turned into learning media to help students achieve their competencies. Learning media do not need to be expensive, made in a factory or use high technology.

A word tree for English developed by an English teacher at SMPN 2 Sedati, Sidoarjo.

This puppet is used for science. You can find various formulae written on the puppet.

An English teacher at MTsN Krian developed a darts game to teach the students English.

A factor board to teach arithmetic developed by a teacher at MTs Darul Ulum Pasinan Baureno, Bojonegoro, East Java.

With this ball the students can easily classify plants and animals. It was developed by a science teacher at MTsN Tanjunganom, Nganjuk.