What happens when children learn physics not from pictures in a book,\nbut from traditional houses, spinning tops, woven cloth and coconut\nshells? In Sumba Barat Daya, that question has now been answered.\nObjects long regarded as part of daily life and cultural heritage turn\nout to embody scientific phenomena: the Sumba traditional house speaks\nof balance, the spinning top demonstrates rotational motion, the dyeing\nof woven threads introduces capillarity, and coconut shell games\nillustrate the work of friction on different surfaces.<\/p>\n
The problem is that this potential has not always featured in early\nchildhood learning. Science education at PAUD (early childhood education\ncentres) is still perceived as requiring special equipment, laboratory\nspace or difficult material \u2014 a perception that looms large in\nunderdeveloped, frontier and outermost (3T) regions with limited\nfacilities, risking children viewing science as something far removed\nfrom their everyday lives.<\/p>\n
Young children learn through concrete experience. They touch, see,\ntry, compare, ask questions and then discover things from what they\nexperience. For that reason, introducing science to children need not\nbegin with scientific terminology, but rather with experiences that\nspark curiosity.<\/p>\n
This is where ethnoscience finds its relevance.<\/p>\n
Ethnoscience bridges knowledge that grows within community life and\nscientific knowledge. The approach connects local culture not merely as\nan object of preservation, but as a living source of learning.<\/p>\n
The idea was put into practice by a Community Service (PkM) team from\nUniversitas Stella Maris Sumba, which received a 2026 grant from the\nDirectorate of Research and Community Service (DPPM) of the Ministry of\nHigher Education, Science and Technology, at the Horeb Play Group (KB)\nin Wee Londa village, Tambolaka, Sumba Barat Daya Regency. The\nprogramme, led by Rambu Ririnsia Harra Hau together with Bewa Dangu\nSoleman Renda Bili and two students, accompanied five PAUD teachers in\ndeveloping ethnoscience-based Sumba science learning.<\/p>\n
Notably, the teachers were invited to see their surroundings as\nscientific: the phenomena that occur, the questions to pose to children,\nand the simple games that can be used to help children find answers.<\/p>\n
The Sumba traditional house, for example, is not merely a traditional\nbuilding. Its structure and form can be used to invite children to\nobserve balance and load distribution. Teachers can encourage children\nto ask why an object stands firm, or what happens when a load is placed\nin a different position.<\/p>\n
The same applies to the spinning top. The traditional game is not\njust entertainment. When spun, children can observe how objects move,\nwhy the top spins, and why it eventually stops. From that simple\nexperience, children begin to engage with the concepts of rotational\nmotion and turning force.<\/p>\n
Ikat woven cloth can become a learning space. Natural dyes from\nturmeric or creeping leaves that absorb into threads can be observed as\nan early experience introducing capillarity, while coconut shell games\ncan be used to show the differences in friction on particular\nsurfaces.<\/p>\n
\u201cScience is not a complicated subject; Sumbanese children in fact\nalready \u2018learn\u2019 physics every day through their own culture,\u201d asserted\nRambu Ririnsia Harra Hau, the team leader.<\/p>\n
The statement points to a larger issue in education in 3T regions.\nLimited facilities cannot be ignored. Yet education must also not stop\nat a list of what schools lack.<\/p>\n
An equally important question is: what does the community already\npossess that has not yet been harnessed as a source of learning?<\/p>\n
Sumba possesses cultural wealth, natural surroundings, traditional\ngames, crafts and community knowledge that can all become learning\nresources. The challenge is how teachers transform that wealth into\ndirected learning experiences appropriate to children\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
The community service activity produced MODE-SUMBA, or the Sumba\nEthnoscience Experiment Digital Module. Teachers were equipped to create\ninteractive digital catalogues, short learning videos, and documentation\nstorage via digital platforms. At KB Horeb, a Science Corner was also\ndeveloped, fitted with QR codes so that learning media can be accessed\nagain by teachers and parents.<\/p>\n
Technology, however, is not the end goal. QR codes, videos and\ndigital catalogues will only be meaningful if they bring children back\nto real experience: playing, observing, asking and trying.\nDigitalisation must not replace the direct interaction that lies at the\nheart of early childhood learning.<\/p>\n
The mentoring results showed a 71 per cent improvement in teachers\u2019\nunderstanding (a high category), though the challenge of early childhood\nscience literacy still requires programme continuity, consistent\nclassroom practice, parental involvement and sustained capacity building\nfor teachers.<\/p>\n
KB Horeb\u2019s manager, Yublina Dapasapu, acknowledged the shift in\nperspective. \u201cPreviously we were confused about how to introduce science\nwithout laboratory facilities. Now, just by observing the structure of\nthe Sumba traditional house, spinning tops or woven cloth, we can teach\nscience in a really enjoyable way. The children have become far more\nactive and critical.\u201d<\/p>\n
The experience at KB Horeb shows that science learning need not begin\nwith a fully equipped laboratory. Sometimes it starts from the ground\nbeneath a child\u2019s feet, the culture they know, and the simple questions\nthat arise from curiosity.<\/p>\n
Limited facilities in fact open up a larger question: might science\nlearning be built from what is closest to children\u2019s lives?<\/p>\n
The answer may be as simple as a child spinning a top.<\/p>\n
The child plays.<\/p>\n
The child asks.<\/p>\n
The child observes.<\/p>\n
And without realising it, the child is learning physics.<\/p>\n
In Sumba, children\u2019s first laboratory is not a building, but nature,\nthe traditional house, woven cloth, traditional games and the culture\nthat surrounds them every day.<\/p>\n
It remains only for education to open eyes to explore it.<\/p>\n
With this training, teachers are expected not only to master\nknowledge, but also to deliver learning experiences that are relevant,\ninspiring and impactful for their pupils.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/when-culture-and-science-unite-unveiling-early-childhood-physics-through-ethnoscience-experiments-in-sumba-1788767437", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }