18 teaching-learning media arouse students’ independence in learning based on
experiences and reality. There are so many teaching-learning media around. One of the media that
the teachers can use to foster independent learning for students is worksheet.
a. Worksheet as Teaching-Learning Media
1 Benefits of Worksheet
There are limited sources which present the benefits of worksheets. Worksheetlibrary accessed on January 9
th
, 2010 presents several benefits of worksheet. First, printable worksheets explore student’s personal experiences in
learning. Students are given a chance to interact with the teaching material and it may reinforce the information taught. Second, printable worksheets provide
important material for test-preparation and make students become more confident about the material before the test. Third, printable worksheets contain the value of
teamwork which allows students to cooperate with others to develop teamwork skills of the students. Fourth, Printable worksheets help students to memorize
important points of a subject since worksheets often contain the main points of a certain subject.
The fifth benefit according to Worksheetlibrary is that printable worksheets can be used as reference material. Sixth, teacher may expand upon the
lesson to the related topic. Seventh, printable worksheets provide a lot of repetition that may help students to understand the topic which are possibly
difficult to comprehend in one or two meetings.
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2 Designing Worksheet
Designing effective worksheet is a compulsory process to do. Graham 1998 states that good and effective worksheets can be measured from how they
lead students understand and, at last, master the material. Graham proposes four steps in designing effective worksheets. Starting with planning, he arouses
fundamental questions about the purpose of worksheet, the audience the agents who will work on, the resources available, and the methods of recording to use.
The next three steps are preparing the worksheet, making the content accessible, and evaluation.
According to Graham, planning is begun by determining the purpose of worksheet. It is important to have clear view of the reasons why teacher designed
the worksheets because it will also determine the goal to achieve when they have completed the worksheet and at the end of the lesson. The next factor is
considering the audience. In designing worksheets, the age, ability, and motivation of students must become considerable factors. The length and the
layout will also influence students’ performance. The availability of resources must be considered either. Teachers need to decide whether the worksheets can be
completed in a classroom or in the field. Another last factor is choosing the method to use in completing the worksheets. The methods can be filling in gaps,
matching, summarizing, drawing, answering, etc. The next step is preparing worksheets. In preparing worksheets, the layout
and design is very important. Graham proposes the important factors in preparing the worksheets; they are the general layout, the choice of print, the use of
20 headings, the amount of information on a page, the variety of tasks, quality of
illustrations, and quality of reproduction. After preparing the worksheet, teacher continues the process by making
the content. The content of a worksheet must be accessible. There are two factors influencing the accessibility of the content. The first one is limiting the
complexity. Using short sentences and simple words help students to understand what to do. The second factor is the style of language. Language style must be
adjusted to learners’ competence. Too formal or official or even too informal language should be avoided. Teachers can use a style which creates a sense of
mystery and discovery about the subject and which invites pupils to notice things and explore.
The last step in designing effective worksheet is evaluation. Certainly, the worksheet is not perfect yet after the first attempt. Revisions and improvements
are needed so that worksheet can help students acquiring the learning goal.
3. Perception
