THE APPLICATION OF THE CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING

THE APPLICATION OF THE CONTEXTUAL TEACHING

AND LEARNING

A.      Background

The theory curriculum and Teaching Methodology related to the students’ experience and needs. The philosophy of Contextual Teaching Learning (CTL) is from John Dewey progressivism. The students will study well if they learn about something that they have known. Teaching learning process will be productive if the students are involved actively in the Teaching Learning Process at school. There are some characteristics of the progressive theory:

1.      The students will study well if they can construct their understanding.

2.      The students must be free so that they can grow naturally.

3.      The teacher is as a guide and researcher.

4.      There is a correlation between school and society.

5.      A progressive school mu8st have a laboratory to do experiment.

Beside progressive theory, cognitive theory is also a background of the CTL philosophy. The students will study well if they do activities directly in the classroom and they have a chance to find something themselves. The students will get the result of the study through something that they know and what they can do.

            Considering the two theories above, constructivism philosophy will develop. The students get knowledge and skills through the context slowly one by one. The students must construct their knowledge themselves. Through constructivism philosophy, CTL is promoted as the choice of the new learning strategy. Through CTL, hopefully the students learn by doing not by memorizing. According to (Zahorik,1995), he said that “Knowledge is constructed by humans. Knowledge is not a set of facts, concepts, or laws waiting to be discovered. It is not something that exists independent of knower. Humans create or construct knowledge as they attempt to bring meaning to their experience. Everything that we know, we have made. Knowledge is conjectural and fallible. Since knowledge is a construction of humans and humans constantly undergoing new experiences, knowledge can never be stable. The understandings that we invent are always tentative and incomplete. Knowledge grows to through exposure. Understand becomes deeper and stronger if one tests is against new encounters”

The principle of constructivism asks the students to pay attention actively in the learning process. So this constructive theory is called student-centered instruction. The teacher plays role as a guidance. He helps the students to find the fact, concept, or principles by themselves.

There are some propositions of the implication of the constructive theory in the learning process at schools:

1.      Learning is the meaningful process of the new information.

2.      Freedom is the essential item in the learning environment/area

3.      The used learning strategy is to determine the process and the result of learning

4.      Learning has social and cultural aspects.

5.      Group working is very valuable

The purpose of the constructive learning is to create the activities creatively and productively in the real context.

B.       The definition of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL)

The CTL system is an educational process that aims to help the students see meaning in the academic material they are studying by connecting academic subjects with the context of their daily lives, that is, with the context of their personal, social, and cultural circumstances. To achieve this aim, the system encompasses the following eight components: making meaningful connections, doing significant work, self-regulated learning, collaborating, critical and creative thinking, nurturing the individual, reaching high standards, using authentic assessment (Johnson, 2002:25).

According to The Washington State Consortium for Contextual Teaching and Learning (2003:3-4) says that Contextual teaching is teaching that enables students to reinforce, expand, and apply their academic knowledge and skills in a variety of- in-school and out-of-school settings in order to solve simulated or real-world problems. Contextual learning occurs when students apply and experience what is being taught referencing real problems associated with their roles and responsibilities as family members, citizens, students, and workers. Contextual Teaching and Learning emphasizes higher-level-thinking, knowledge transfer across academic disciplines, and collecting, analyzing and synthesizing information and data from multiple sources and viewpoints.

According to TEACHNET, Contextual Teaching and Learning is the concept of teaching and learning that helps teachers relate subject matter content to real world situations and motivates students to make connection between knowledge and its applications to their lives as family members, citizens, and workers engage in the hard work that learning requires (Johnson, 2002:3839). TEACHNET also expresses  Contextual Teaching and Learning is problem-based, uses self-regulated learning is situated in multiple contexts, anchors teaching in students’ diverse life contexts, uses authentic assessment, and uses interdependent learning groups.

C.   The characteristics of Contextual Teaching and Learning

Johnson (2002:24) describes the characteristics of Contextual Teaching and Learning. There are eight main components in the Contextual Teaching and Learning, they are:

1. Making meaningful connections

The students can make themselves, as the learners who learn and develop their needs actively and individually. They can work individually or in group and they can do learning by doing.

2. Doing significant work

The students can make relationship between schools and society.

3. Self-regulated learning

The students do significant works that related to the purpose, another people, choices, and real products.

4. Collaborating

The students can work together. The teacher helps them to work in group effectively, and help them to understand how they interfere and communicate each other.

5.      Critical and creative thinking

The students can use their thinking critically and creatively. They can analyze, make synthesis, solve the problem, and make decision by using logical facts.

6. Nurturing the individual

The students keep, motivate, and encourage themselves. They respect to their friends and the adults.

7. Reading high standard

The students know and reach the high standard. The teacher shows them the way to get the “excellence”

8. Using authentic assessment

The students use the academic knowledge to get the meaningful purposes in the real contextual world.

D.      Strategies of the Contextual Teaching and Learning

Center of Occupational Research and Development (CORD) describes the strategies of the contextual teaching and learning. There are five strategies of the contextual teaching and learning that called a REACT.

1. Relating

Learning is related to the real living experiential context.

2. Experiencing.

Learning is focused on the exploration, discovery, and invention

3. Applying

Learning is about the knowledge which presented in the utilization of the context.

4. Cooperating

Learning is through interpersonal communicative context, and the collective using.

5. Transferring

Learning is through the utilization of the knowledge in the new situation or context.

E.       The Application of the Contextual Teaching and Learning in the Class

A.       Seven Main Components of The Contextual Teaching and Learning

There are seven main components of the contextual teaching and learning that become the foundation of the contextual learning in the classroom. They are constructivism, questioning, inquiry, learning community, modeling,  reflection , and authentic assessment.

A teacher uses the contextual approach in the classroom if he/she applies the seven main components in the learning process. The contextual learning can be applied in what curriculum is being done, what subject is being used and what situation the class is.

Picture 1. The Chart of the related components of the contextual learning

Constructivism

Modeling

Reflection

Questioning

Learning Community

Authentic Assessment

Inquiry

B.       The Application of Each Component

1.    Constructivism

Constructivism is a basic philosophy of contextual learning. It means that knowledge is built by the human beings less more less, and the result is enlarged through the limited context. Knowledge is not a set of facts, concept, or the pattern which is not ready to be taken or reminded. The human must construct the knowledge and give the meaning by his new experiences. The students must understand and apply their knowledge. They have to work to solve the problem, find something by themselves, and develop the ideas. The teacher does not only give the information to the students’ mind but also can transfer the important and useful concepts to them.

Picture 2. The Chart of  the constructive learning process.

Primary knowledge

New knowledge

                                    Learning experience

                                   

 

The chart above describes the constructive learning process. It explains that the box below explains that the student who was born doesn’t have knowledge. He lives and interacts with his environment, then he gets the primary knowledge then he processes it through the learning experiences to get the new knowledge. In the constructivism, the achievement strategy is done earlier than how much knowledge that the student gets and remembers. So the teacher is as a facilitator, he has a role play to make the meaningful knowledge and relevant to the students. He gives the chance to the students to find and apply their ideas themselves. He also asks the students to apply their strategies in the learning.

2.    Inquiry

Inquiry is a complex idea that means many things to many people in many contexts. Inquiry is an asking. Inquiry can be applied in all subjects. The key word of the inquiry strategy is the student can find himself. An inquiry activity is a cycle. The cycle consists of some steps. They are formulating the problem, collecting the data, analyzing and providing the result, communicating and presenting the result to the reader, classmates, or another audiences. The inquiry cycle consists of observation, questioning, hypothesis, data gathering, and conclusion.

Picture 3: The inquiry cycle

Observing

Draw conclusions                                                                    questioning

                                                Inquiry process

Data analysis                                                                           hypothesis

                                                Gathering

                                                Information

3.    Questioning

Questioning is the main strategy of the contextual learning. It is the beginning of the knowledge, the heart of the knowledge, and the important aspect of learning. Questioning is a strategy which used by the students to analyze and explore the ideas actively. Questioning can be used for some purposes, some forms, and some answers. Sadker and Sadker (Cooper, 1990:113) explains that to question well is to teach well. In the skillful use of the question more than anything else lies the fine art of teaching; for in it we have the guide to clear and vivid ideas, and the quick spur to imagination, the stimulus to thought, the incentive to action. What’s in a question, you ask? Everything. It is the way of evoking stimulating response or stultifying inquiry. It is, in essence, the very core of teaching. The art of questioning is the art of guiding learning.

4.    Learning Community

In the learning community, the result of learning can be taken from cooperate with another people. The result of learning can be accepted by the sharing from friends, groups, and among those who know to those who don’t know. Learning community has a multi dimension meaning. There are learning community, sharing ideas, discussion, service learning, group learning, contextual learning, learning resources, problem-based learning, learning to be, learning to know, learning to do, learning how to live together, task-based learning, school-based management, and collaborative learning in cooperative learning.

5.    Modeling

Modeling is to translate the ideas that thought, to demonstrate how the teacher asks the students to study, asks them to do what he asks. Modeling is also the way how to operate something. The teacher as modeling gives the model or the way how to study effectively.

6.    Reflection

Reflection is a description of the activity or knowledge that just accepted. Reflection is the way of thinking about something that we have learned or thinking the past about what thing that we have done. The teacher should do reflection at the end of the learning process.

7.    Authentic assessment

Assessment is the process of gathering data which can give description of the students’ learning development. Authentic assessment is the assessment procedure on the contextual learning. The characteristics of the authentic assessment are:

a.       It must measure all learning aspects: process, activity, and product

b.      It’s done after teaching learning process or the activity is going

c.       It uses some ways and some resources

d.      Test is only one of the collector of data assessment

e.       The teacher gives the tasks to the students which reflect the real living of the students on every day

f.       Assessment must focus on the students’ knowledge and skills not quantity

Picture 4: The chart of the Authentic Assessment

Measuring students’ knowledge and skills

Process and product can be measured

Applying knowledge or skills

Contextual and relevant tasks

Product or activity assessment

Authentic assessment