Science Day di SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak “Amazing Science, The Amazing Us”
Students of elementary school age are children who have natural abilities as strong learners, creative and have great imagination and curiosity. Basically, children of elementary school age (6 to 12 years) already have the ability to reason, but this ability is not perfect, therefore it is very necessary for the role of parents and educators to foster and awaken this ability in each child. The goal is for each child to have behavior that reflects a true lifelong learner. This ability can be honed by fostering a love of learning in every child, arousing their passion and enthusiasm for learning and stimulating them to love science and knowledge. The effort that can be made to realize this is by believing that all activities carried out by children are a learning process, all phenomena or events in nature are learning teachers and all corners of the earth are beautiful learning gardens for them.
Therefore, learning can not only be done in classrooms, but also through activities outside the classroom with various fun methods. Children of elementary school age have entered the sociocentric phase and are starting to be worthy of being socialized, so that learning methods can be done by awakening their social nature by interacting a lot with their family members, friends, and the surrounding environment.The exposure of these conditions is the background of the "Fun Chemistry" activity proposed by the Chemistry Insight Center (CIC) as an Educational Service Center and Chemical Science Enrichment Assistance for the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) Tanjungpura University.
In this "Fun Chemistry" activity, CIC FMIPA UNTAN collaborated with SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak as a partner in an activity entitled "Science Day". The purpose of CIC participating in this activity is to: 1). Introducing students to chemistry which is part of science and science that is closely related to everyday life; 2). Accompany students in exploring and honing basic knowledge in the field of chemistry with regard to science and technology; 3). Accompanying students in exploring and honing skills in thinking and acting creatively, productively, critically, collaboratively, and communicatively through a scientific approach in accordance with the developmental stage of children's thinking; 4). Accompany students to be aware of problems related to the surrounding environment and invite them to solve problems based on environmentally friendly science and technology and 5). A persuasive platform to invite to care about global environmental issues and participate in problem solving in a way that is fun and easily accepted by children.
The target participants for this Science Day activity were students from grades 3 to 5 of the Special Intelligent Class (CI) at SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak, totaling 63 people. Participants were divided into 12 groups, where each group was accompanied by one accompanying student. The implementation of a series of Science Day agendas at SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak was carried out on Saturday 5 October 2019 from 08.00 to 16.00 WIB. The place where the activity was carried out was at SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak. The theme carried by SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak is "Amazing Science, Amazing Us".
The activity began with the opening of SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak. Principal of SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak, namely Drs. H. Slamet Rianto, M.Pd. convey to students that learning and gaining knowledge is not only done in class, but can also be done through practical activities like this. The Principal hopes that this Science Day activity will create a sense of interest in science in students and give birth to the future of excellent young scientists. The CIC was represented by the Chair of CIC FMIPA UNTAN, namely Intan Syahbanu, S.Si., M.Si. expressed his gratitude to SD Muhammadiyah 2 Pontianak for trusting CIC FMIPA UNTAN to participate in Science Day activities and hoped that the students could enjoy the learning process in this activity. The Chair of CIC FMIPA UNTAN also hopes that collaboration like this can continue on other occasions.
The core activity is chemistry practicum, where the practicum consists of four modules/activities. In between practical activities there are also games for the participants. Each activity agenda will be accompanied directly by lecturers from the Chemistry Department, FMIPA UNTAN who are involved in CIC activities and students as practicum supervisors. Practicums attended by participants include:
This practicum aims to introduce participants to the dangers of plastic waste and explain the reasons why we need to minimize the use of plastic and . Participants are invited to be actively involved in making starch-based plastic, thereby producing plastic that is more environmentally friendly than petroleum-based plastic.
This practicum aims to introduce participants to renewable alternative energy, that we can utilize solar energy by converting it into electrical energy. Participants made a series of solar cell devices by utilizing sunlight as an energy source which was then used as a cellphone charger.
Praktikum ini bertujuan menambah wawasan peserta tentang kandungan karbohirat, protein dan lemak bahan-bahan makanan yang lazim mereka konsumsi sehari-hari, serta uji kualitatif yang dapat dilakukan untuk membuktikan kandungan tersebut. Uji dilakukan dengan reage-reagen kimia seperti Benedict, Fehling dan Biuret.
Praktikum ini bertujuan mengenalkan tentang warna primer dan warna tersier dan proses pemisahannya. Peserta melakukan pemisahan warna sekunder dan warna tersier dengan taknik kromatografi kertas.
The results of the activities were assessed using a questionnaire. The assessment includes: practicum material, the role of the practicum supervisor and impressions of the activity as a whole. Assessment of practicum material includes: 1) the content of the practicum material provided; 2) new knowledge obtained from the contents of the practicum material, 3) suitability of the practicum material with knowledge gained in class/already studied, 4) suitability of the practicum material with the latest science and technology, and 5) suitability of the practicum material with environmentally friendly science and technology. Assessment of the role of the practicum supervisor includes: 1) explanations given by the practicum supervisor; 2) motivation for students to be active in practical activities; 3) the level of student understanding of the explanation given; 4) interaction between practicum supervisors and students and 5) there is a process of evaluating the material provided in the form of verbal and written questions and answers after the practicum is finished. Assessments regarding impressions of the activity as a whole include: 1) this activity provides a new experience in learning; 2) this activity motivates students to be interested in science; 3) this activity motivates students to care more about current environmental conditions; 4) overall assessment of this activity. The results of the questionnaire calculation can be seen in the following graph:
Overall, more than 50% of participants rated the activity as good and very good. The participants' responses were also positive to the question "Do you think that activities like this should be held?" More than 50% of participants answered once every 1 to 3 months. These results indicate that this activity was successful in attracting students' interest. The results of this assessment are satisfactory for CIC FMIPA UNTAN, because in every "Fun Chemistry" activity like this, CIC always hopes that students will experience a fun experience in the process of learning natural sciences, especially chemistry.
