Education is a power that can change a culture and determine the future of a nation. Therefore, to support sustainable national development, it requires more attention to the creation of a high quality education system.
"The ability to manage the natural resources relies on the quality of human resources. So, we should continue to develop an education to not only produce graduates who are qualified in academics, but also of great integrity," said Vice-rector of Cooperation and Alumni, Dr. Paripurna, SH, M. Hum., LL.M., when opening a seminar of Strategies and Challenges of the 21st Century Education Preparation, Monday (30/5), at Auditorium of MM UGM.
Seminar that was held on cooperation between UGM, Monash University, Fun School Movement, and Clayton North Primary School, Australia is motivated by awareness of the need for an education strategy that involves the active participation of both teachers and students.
"High quality education is acquired when learning and teaching activities are interconnected. Teaching should affect learning and learning should affect teaching. In this case we see that teaching is more than just tell, and learn is more than just listen," said Dean of the Education Faculty of Monash University, Prof. John Loughran.
In a lecture session, he delivered the essential principles in the education which are teaching-learning process, ie. prior knowledge, processing, attribution, metacognition, translation, and synthesis.
First, he explained that a teacher must pay attention to prior knowledge, what is already known by a student about a topic. This will affect the students's learning process. Later in the learning process, teachers should pay attention that the students not simply absorb and memorize information, but also able to process the information they have obtained. With this understanding, a student is also taught to be able to associate the idea with their everyday experience.
Metacognition is also an important aspect of education since it will help students to analyze a task and find a way to resolve it. Students are also expected to be able to apply the knowledge gained in a different context, and then arrange the pieces together.
In addition, he stressed the importance of creating positive learning conditions. This can be created by building a collaborative learning environment, encouraging students to express their ideas and encouraging learners to have curiosity.
"Teachers can use these kinds of questions such as 'What if ...?', 'What do you think about ...?', Or 'How do I ...?' to stimulate students' thinking," he explained.
On this occasion, an MoU between UGM, Monash University, Fun School Movement and Clayton North Primary School was also signed to mark the start of cooperation and commitment of the four institutions in the creation of high quality education in Indonesia.