The Understanding of Contextual Teaching Learning

CTL is an educational process that aims to help student see meaning in the academic subject 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 component: making meaningful connection, doing significant work, self regulated learning, collaborating, critical and creative thinking, nurturing the individual, reaching high standards, and using authentic assessments. 15 From Johnson’s statement the writer tries to concluded that CTL is process in learning activities that help students to find the meaning in any academic subject and apply it to their daily lives. This approach has eight main components: First, the teacher can make academic subject has the meaning and relating to their lives. Second, the students do appropriate work in the school that related with their own lives. Third, the students can manage themselves as learner. Forth, the students can learn with others. Fifth, the students should use critical and creative thinking in learning process, meanwhile the teacher has to enrich the strategy in questioning to achieve this component. Sixth, the teachers allow them to learn based on their learning type. Seventh, the students can reach high standard which standardized by the teacher. Seventh, the teachers assess the student not only on score but process of learning. Meanwhile, Nurhadi concluded that the contextual teaching learning is the concept of learning where the teacher presents the real world to the classroom and encourages the students to relate their knowledge with its implementation in their daily life; meanwhile students obtain their knowledge and skill from limited context little by little and from the self-constructed process, as a talent for solving problems in their life as a member of society. 16 Students learn best–and retain what they have learned–when 1 they are interested in the subject matter and 2 concepts are applied to the context of 15 Elaine B. Johson, Contextual Teaching and Learning: What it’s and Why it’s Here to Stay thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, Inc, 2002, p.25 16 Nurhadi, et al. Pembelajaran Kontekstual…………….. p.13 the students own lives. 17 So the teachers should provide those conditions in teaching learning activities. Contextual Teaching and Learning CTL helps teachers relate subject matter content to real world situations and motivate students to make connections between knowledge and its applications to students’ lives as family members, citizens, and workers and engage in the hard work. Furthermore, CTL also uses the multiple contexts, theories of situated cognition suggest that knowledge cannot be separated from the physical and social context in which it develops. How and where a person acquires and creates knowledge is therefore very important. CTL experiences are enriched when students learn skills in multiple contexts i.e. school, community, workplace, family. According to contextual learning theories above, the writer concludes that CTL involves the student to play an important activity that help student to relate subject matter with the real world situation, by relating subject matter content to real world situations the students see “meaning” in the academic task. Because, when they learn meaningless subject sometime they ask, “Why we have to learn this?” It’s very natural if they try to find meaning and the useful of subject which they learn. Victor E. Frankl said, “the main purpose of human life is to find meaning in their own life” 18 then, by finding the meaning in learning the students are more responsive in the learning process which interesting them.

2. The Contextual Teaching Learning Approach

The contextual learning is one of learning approaches that focuses on the creating the nature environment or situation in the learning process so that the class more “live” and “meaningful” because students “experience” what are 17 http:www.ateec.orglearninginstructorcontextual.htm Accessed on October 07 th , 2009 18 Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s search for meaning new York: Simon and Schuster, 1959, rev. 1984 p. 133 they learning. 19 The teachers should make the class as other environment which students ever know and involve them as part of its environment. The contextual learning is the approach that enables students for empowering, exploring, and applying their skills and academic knowledge in any kind of the real-life either in the school or out of school 20 . Students feel free to explore their interest or skill in learning which is useful for their out-class lives. Furthermore, students are trained to solve the problem they face in situation. For instance in the simulation form, and the problem that exist in the real world. 21 With some training to solve problem students are familiarized to do it with their own skill. When the contextual learning is applied properly, the students are hoped to be able to connect what they got from class with the real-world they experience in their environment. Therefore, the teacher needs to understand the concept of contextual learning and able to apply it properly.

3. Characteristic of Contextual Teaching-Learning

According to Johnson 22 , there are eight main components in the system of contextual learning as following: a. Making Meaningful Connection Students can organize themselves as learner who learn actively in developing their proclivity individually, and can work individually or in group, and can learn by learning While making meaningful connection can also help teachers assess how students use prior knowledge to understand the lesson, teachers can use the organizers to gain insights into students’ connections as they are learning. The use of this simple strategy on an ongoing basis will allow teachers to provide additional differentiated instruction and support to students who 19 http:www.coe.uga.eductl Accessed on October 17 th , 2009 20 Nurhadi, et al. Pembelajaran Kontekstual…………….. P.4 21 Nurhadi, et al. Pembelajaran Kontekstual…………….. P.4 22 Elaine B. Johson, Contextual Teaching and Learning: What it’s and Why it’s Here to Stay thousand Oaks: Corwin Press, Inc, 2002, p.24