JP/17/RUDY

JP/17/RUDY

Rudy makes biology learning fun for students

Sri Wahyuni
The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta

Bringing the subject closer and making it more interesting are
believed to be keys to more effective teaching and learning
processes in a classroom. This is true at least for Rudy
Prakanto, 37, a teacher at state-owned SMU 6 Yogyakarta high
school.

Adopting this theory, he has succeeded in making biology -- a
subject that many high school students often see as boring and
abstract -- into something interesting and challenging for
students.

Thanks to his innovative teaching methods, he has also
succeeded in increasing students' courage not just to create
scientific works of quality, but also find answers to the real
problems they encounter in their respective communities.

"I call it mimikri, from the word mimicry, to symbolize a
quick adaptation of students into the environment," said Rudy,
who has just won the 2005 Science Education Award from the
Indonesia Toray Science Foundation (ITSF) for the methods he
created.

Using his methods, according to Rudy, students are encouraged
to quickly adapt to the environment and find solutions to the
problems they may find.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post at his house in a hamlet called
Janti in Kulonprogo regency some 25 kilometers west of
Yogyakarta, Rudy said that the name was also an acronym of
mengeksplorasi (exploring), mengaplikasi konsep (applying
concepts) and refleksi diri (self reflection).

Exploring means the teacher has the task of exploring the
students' initial knowledge about a particular subject matter.
Applying concepts means the teacher has to bring the subject
matter closer and make it less abstract to students. Self-
reflection means students have to be encouraged to be able to
communicate what they have discovered through a presentation in
front of the class.

"The key to this method is basically freeing the students from
pressure and fear and to freely express what they have in mind in
the class," Rudy said.

At schools at the moment, according to Rudy, what happens in
most classes is a monologue system in which the teacher perceives
him/herself as being everything. As such, therefore, the teacher
will be upset if the class becomes noisy.

"What I've been developing through mimikri is a democratic
class in which the students feel free to express anything without
being afraid of being insulted by both the teacher or their
fellow students," said Rudy, underlining the importance of
considering every opinion that the students may express as being
equally important as others.

Rudy is not exaggerating. Watching Rudy's class, one may be
surprised by the way he teaches. The class is not quiet at all.
Students' shouting questions to Rudy, or discussing a problem
noisily among themselves, are common scenes in Rudy's classes.

"Pak Rudy, can I do this?" a student shouted.

"Pak Rudy, look at what I've done! Am I doing it right?"
another student shouted.

The class was dynamic. Every student was actively involved in
learning activity even during introductory parts in which Rudy
explains a topic to help students understand the bigger picture
of the subject being learned.

In Rudy's class, students are usually divided into groups. The
class mostly starts with group discussions during which Rudy digs
into the students' knowledge, providing them with related
information, and allowing them to find problems related to the
subject being learned to be solved through scientific inquiry.

"All activities are basically developed to make students
realize that biology is not just a theory or material to
memorize, but it is something of great advantage to the
community," said Rudy, who is a graduate of Yogyakarta Teacher
Training Institute (IKIP), now Yogyakarta State University (UNY).

Making an abstract subject into something applicable in the
eyes of the students, he said, was another basic idea of Mimikri.

Mimikri allows students to catch the essence of the subject
being learned so that they can develop themselves, and finally
come up with scientific works that are sometimes surprising even
to me as the teacher," said Rudy, mentioning a number of his
students' research projects that had gained local, national and
even international recognition.

Thanks to the method, a number of awards are now in the hands
of some of Rudy's students in recognition of their participation
in various science competitions at local, national, and even in
the international levels.

Research conducted by three of his students, Arko Jatmiko,
Saum, and Jalu, on the use of banana tree tubers to make
crackers, for example, won an international prize in 2003 from
the youth business innovation competition held by the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Research by his student Rizky Yuda on the use of a propellant
with zeolit (green sand) to reduce carbon monoxide emissions in
motorcycles, also won first prize at the national scientific
competition for teenagers (LKIR) held by the Indonesian Institute
of Science (LIPI) in 2003.

Similarly, research into the use of solid waste in tofu
cottage industries to make crackers won his students Agnes Widya,
Lutfi and Nur Rizqi first place in the national business
innovation competition held by the Ministry of Education.

Meanwhile, research on the use of liquid waste in the same
cottage industry as a fertilizer for tomato plants won his
student Agnes Widya second place in the LKIR held by Yogyakarta-
based Ahmad Dahlan University.

Rudy said he has been developing mimikri since 1995, when he
was still a teacher at the state-run SLTP 3 Ngawen junior high
school in Gunungkidul, although it was then applied with a
slightly different approach.

When he was moved to SMU 6 Yogyakarta in 2001, after winning
LIPI's national teacher creativity competitions in 1997 and 2000,
he continued applying and developing the method.

"I believe mimikri can be applied to other subjects, because
basically it is only a matter of how to make learning fun for
students," said father of two Rudy, who has recently often been
invited to share his methods with other teachers.

Once the students have fallen in love with the subject,
according to Rudy, they would voluntarily and happily do whatever
the teacher asked them to do regarding the subject.

"For me, what is more important is providing students with as
many learning experiences as possible rather than thronging them
with abundant learning materials. This is the philosophy of
mimikri," he said. *