EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents

Child Friendly Syariah School: A Family Adventure

Nuril Hidayat and Mohammad Ali

On Sunday, 22nd January 2006 pupils, parents and teachers of the Muhammadiyah Primary School in Kottabarat, Solo in Central Java were gathered at the Tlatar fish farm and recreation centre just outside the city. The outdoor activity programme was designed to motivate children to learn through play. Parents were encouraged to be more active in the teaching learning process. By preparing for the event the teachers got a lot of new ideas on how to develop more creative and interactive education programmes. Children and parents were empowered as additional teaching resources learning to use the natural environment as a source of learning about science, language, mathematics and other subject matters.

The activity was planned and organised by the parents, teachers, the school committee and fish farm management. It was announced to the students before the school holiday who all decided on when the activity would take place. The theme “Oh Allah, I care for your water” was divided into eight topics.

The participants were divided into eight groups according to the number of topics. All the groups were named after one of the 99 names of Allah. The groups named were;

	[Al-Lathif]
“the Gentle and Subtle One” for topic: water absorption [Science and Character Development/Building];
	[A(l)r-Razzak]
“the Provider” for the topic: water as food source/food chain [Biology and Character Development/Building];
	[Al-Badi]
“the Originator” for the topic: position of objects in water [Art and Environmental Studies];
	[A(l)n-Nafi’]
“the Grantor of Benefits” for the topic: all the benefits we get from water [Science and Character Development/Building];
	[Al-Hay]
means “the Ever Living One” for the topic: of everything that lives in a pond [Biology, Mathematics, Character Building/Development and Bahasa Indonesia];
	[Al-Aziz]
“the Mighty and Victorious” for the topic: water pressure [Physics, Civic Studies, Mathematics and Technology];
	[Al-Jami’]
“the Gatherer” for the topic: gathering and collection of water [Science, Mathematics and System Building], and;
	[Al-Qudus]
“the Most Holy and pure from any Imperfection” was used as name for the group with the topic: still, smooth and perfect water surfaces [Science and System Building].

The groups were therefore mixed with members from grade one to six. The parents were divided in groups according to their children. The programme started with a discussion about water, both based on a quote from Al Qur’an on water as well as on water science. A student volunteered to read the quote in Arabic and in translation into Bahasa Indonesia. One of the mothers explained about different aspects and use of water. Each of the groups then conducted practical and playful experiments according to the topics they had been given. Discussions, questions and answers, note taking are recording were done throughout the day. At the end, the children and parents reflected on the day, drawing conclusions, summarising and making comments. After this the parents waded around in the water and collected fish and sea grass before they all had lunch together.

In addition to the lunch, snacks had been prepared since the early morning with banana, cassava and nuts. Ship-shaped plates were made from recycled paper. Afterwards all the trash was separated between organic and non-organic materials to promote environmental awareness among the children and their parents.

Here is a small selection of comments from the children:

• Happy but tired!
• Liked this programme because I could learn and have fun at the same time!
• Happy! Tired! Want to do it again! Didn’t quite understand all the explanations though.

Mohamad Ali is the headmaster of the Muhammadiyah Primary School with Special Programme in Kottabarat, Solo in Central Java while Nuril Hidayati is a teacher in the same school and the co-ordinator of the adventure programme. Both can be reached through cfsc@idp-europe.org or SD Muhammadiyah, Jl. Dr. Muwardi No. 24, 57142 Surakarta, Jawa Tengah

EENET asia Newsletters : Symposium issue April 2006 Contents