Encyclopedia based Material for Science Course to Improve

Communication Ability

of Ibtidaiyah Madrasah Students

Ahmad Abtokhi, Faridah Nur Laili, Rohmani Nur Indah

Universitas Islam Negeri Maulana Malik Ibrahim

Keywords: material development, teaching materials, encyclopedia, natural sciences, communication skill.

Abstract: This study aims to produce encyclopedia-based science teaching materials, describe attractiveness, and

explain the level of effectiveness of teaching materials that have been developed to improve communication

skills of students of Islamic Elementary Schools (MI). The development model uses the ADDIE Model. The

results of validation of material experts, design experts, and learning experts, teaching materials that have

been developed have very valid criteria of 96%. The percentage of attractiveness of teaching materials is

91.63% with a very interesting category. The results of the pre-test and post-test conducted to obtain

information about student communication skills obtained significant values, with an average difference of

20.28, and the results of the t-test analysis showed that t-count> t-table.

1 INTRODUCTION

Communication skill belongs to one of the skills

that are needed by the people of the 21st century, as

well as a skill that must be possessed for the

workforce (Bybee, 2013). Workers in a company

that lacks 21st century skills will be in an

unfavorable position to be competent globally, and

will experience difficulties in facing the challenges

that arise along with the development of science

knowledge and technology (Andrew & Taylor,

2009).

The ability to communicate is not just soft-skill,

more than that communication becomes a very

important aspect in life, when someone can

communicate well, it will affect the improvement of

their quality of life as it supports their other skills

(Iriantara, 2014). Communication skills can be

trained in the learning process, including in science

learning, for example, when students perform

project performance through presentations, and

when they make reports in the form of written

communication (Taryono, 2016). Therefore, this

study concerns with efforts to train communication

skills in science learning at the primary education

level, especially at the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (Islamic

primary school) level, by providing encyclopedia-

based teaching materials.

This study aims to produce encyclopedia-based

teaching materials for science subjects to improve

communication skills of the students. It tries to

explain the advantages of encyclopedia-based

teaching materials in science subjects to improve

student’s communication skills. Furthermore, this

study seeks the effectiveness level of teaching-based

materials encyclopedia on science subjects on

student communication skills.

2 METHOD

This study employs research and development

design. It contains of three main components: (1) the

development model, (2) development procedures,

and (3) product trials (Sugiyono, 2013, 2016). This

research and development model was adapted from

Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and

Evaluation (ADDIE) model. The steps of this

research are the analysis of the students' background

and needs, the design of a set of specifications for an

effective, efficient and relevant student environment,

1298

Abtokhi, A., Laili, F. and Indah, R.

Encyclopedia based Material for Science Course to Improve Communication Ability of Ibtidaiyah Madrasah Students.

DOI: 10.5220/0009926712981302

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Recent Innovations (ICRI 2018), pages 1298-1302

ISBN: 978-989-758-458-9

the development of all material for students and

managing the material, the implementation of the

instructions produced, formative and summative

evaluation of both results development.

Product trials can be achieved well by setting

several components, including the selection of trial

design, subject of the test, type of data, instrument of

data collection, and technical data analysis. Product

trials were conducted simultaneously with science

learning material experts, learning design experts,

and learning experts or teachers (Sukmadinata,

2007).

This research was conducted at Maulana Malik

Ibrahim State Islamic University of Malang and

Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Assa'adah Sukowati Bungah

Gresik, East Java, Indonesia. The type of data in this

study is verbal data for pre-development research

and verbal and nonverbal data for post-development

research. Pre-development verbal data is obtained

from observations during learning, interviews with

teachers, and analysis of teaching materials. Verbal

data after development was obtained from

suggestions and notes from science learning material

experts, learning design experts, learning experts or

teachers. Nonverbal data were obtained from

questionnaires and scores of students' pre-test and

post-test results before and after receiving treatment.

Data collection instruments were in the form of

interviews, observation, analysis of questionnaire

teaching materials and test instruments. Data

analysis techniques used are qualitative data analysis

techniques and quantitative data analysis techniques.

Qualitative data analysis techniques are carried out

by (1) collecting verbal written data, (2) transcribing

verbal verbal data, (3) collecting, selecting, and

classifying written verbal data and the results of

verbal verbal transcripts based on criteria, and (4)

analyzing data and formulating conclusion of

analysis. Quantitative data analysis techniques are

carried out in two ways, namely (1) the average

analysis technique and (2) the t test of two groups

that are not related to each other (paired sample t-

test).

3 FINDINGS

The product developed is in the form of

encyclopedia-based instructional materials on

Science course to improve students' communication

skills. The targeted communication skills in

developing these teaching materials include: (1)

discussing the results of activities of a problem or

event; (2) presenting experimental data in the form

of tables or figures; (3) answering questions from

problems; (4) conveying data verbally; and (5)

making conclusions in writing.

With these five indicators, it can be obtained the

extent to which communication skills, competencies

possessed by students to be able to find out the

effectiveness level of encyclopedia-based teaching

materials. These indicators are observed from the

results of the pre-test and post-test as well as the

communication skills competency test exercises

contained in the teaching material "Encyclopedia of

Children of the 21st Century Earth and Natural

Events".

The five indicators are integrated in each chapter.

In detail, this encyclopedia-based teaching material

has been completed with an encyclopedia usage

guide, book content, competency standards and

basic competencies. The material content covers the

scope of the earth and the universe in the subject

matter of the earth and natural events, Qur'anic

literacy, and concept maps interesting facts. It is also

completed with 21st century communication skills

competency tests, reflections, national exam

questions, and glossaries. Figure 1 and 2 are the

cover and the specification of the contents of the

developed teaching materials.

Figure 1: The cover of the developed teaching materials

Encyclopedia based Material for Science Course to Improve Communication Ability of Ibtidaiyah Madrasah Students

1299

Figure 1: Content specification.

The data analyzed in this study include

presentation and analysis of the results of developing

encyclopedia-based teaching materials. It contains

product specifications, and the validity of material

experts, design experts, and learning experts. On the

second stage, it concerns with presentation and

analysis of product attractiveness. As the final stage

is the presentation and analysis of product

effectiveness.

Based on the results of product validation, it was

obtained that the aspects of material or content

experts were 96% achieved. In terms of design, it

attains 96%, and 96% on learning aspect. To

enhance its quality, the revision is done by changing

the title font of the Earth and Natural Event material

to be more highlighted so that it attracts primary

school students. In addition, it needs changing the

writing font on the concept map to a clearer font

with a larger size. Further, the explanation of the

material is shortened so as to make it easier for

students to understand the material briefly but

remain clear. On the material of the water cycle

process, the language is revised to adapt easily to the

sequence of processes. As an example is revising the

terms which were originally written

“evaporated-precipitation-condensation” into

“evaporation-precipitation-condensation”. As the

final revision is to shorten the material regarding the

process of the formation of the earth. This part is

also integrated with the verses of the Qur'an.

On the aspect of attractiveness, it obtained

91.63%, which shows very interesting teaching

material. From the aspect of product effectiveness,

the data show that this teaching material is effective.

This result was obtained through t test which

showed that there were significant differences before

and after students were treated with a significance

value of 0.00 (<0.05) (Thoifah, 2015).

4 DISCUSSION

The final form of this research and development is

an encyclopedia-based teaching material for science

subjects to improve student communication skills.

The subject matter of the material described is on

earth and natural events for fifth graders. The

presence of this encyclopedia-based teaching

material is as a complement to the availability of

existing teaching materials but does not yet have

criteria for indicators of student communication

skills.

The instructional materials developed are

teaching materials that are relevant to the current

curriculum where the main purpose of this

development is to improve students conceptual

understanding along with students' communication

skills (Bellanca, 2012). Indicators of communication

skills used include five aspects, namely, being able

to discuss the results of activities of a problem or

event, being able to present experimental data in the

form of tables of figures, being able to answer

questions from problems, being able to convey data

verbally, and being able to make conclusions in

writing.

In addition to product specifications, the data is

also explained qualitatively and quantitatively where

the calculation of validity questionnaires by several

experts obtains that in terms of material quality it

reaches the standard of good content (96%). The

design also fulfills the standard as evaluated by the

experts (96%). The materials also support the

aspects of learning experts (96%).

The qualitative data are obtained from a review

of comments and suggestions from several experts

so that some changes were done to improve the

quality of the materials. The significant change

concerns with the look of the content by changing

the title font of the Earth and Natural Event material

to be more highlighted to attract primary school

students. Not only changing the type of font but also

its size is considered necessary to support student’s

understanding. As some parts of the materials are

still lengthy, another revision is made to make a

shortened explanation of the material, It is done to

facilitate student’s comprehension. The revision is

also done concerning the concept given for instance

by changing the part of speech from verb into noun.

The completeness of the material is also supported

by being integrated with the verses of the Qur'an.

Aspects of the content of attractiveness are

highlighted by selecting a new model with an

interesting theme and placing enrichment material

and learning support material in the column "do you

know?". In the aspect of presentation,

communication skills competencies are presented in

ICRI 2018 - International Conference Recent Innovation

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various forms and different colors, depending on the

indicators to be achieved so that students do not feel

bored or confused (Murti, 2013).

The material presented in the exercise is enriched

with questions to maximize inquiry-based student

learning. In elementary school students, learning this

model is needed to develop thinking competencies,

process information into the realm of cognition,

while developing encyclopedia-based science

knowledge (Zoldosova & Matejovicova, 2010).

In the aspect of language, attractiveness is

highlighted by the use of words that are easily

understood by students. The selection is diction "do

you know?", "Qur'an literacy", "note", "glossary",

"let's discuss", "let's find out", "let's try", "let's

conclude", "practicum", and "let's practice" is also

used as a puller for students with different picture

illustrations and attractive colors. In the graphic

aspect, bright colors and matching pictures with

material in sufficient quantity are chosen.

The use of visual aspects through drawing

illustrations is a significant tool for developing

children's abilities in shaping historical thinking

patterns. Historical imagery of aspects of knowledge

occupies special memory that supports children's

understanding (Dilek, 2010). Likewise the

development of teaching models, children can be

asked to explain their learning outcomes visually

through the drawing method. The assessment in the

form of images also has the carrying capacity for

student understanding and long-term knowledge

retention.

In children, reading variation is very necessary as

one of the reading motivation (Wigfield et al., 2016).

Every child has a reading interest and different

cognitive development potential, therefore the use of

encyclopedias in science learning for children of

Islamic elementary school age is considered

effective to accelerate reading interest. Thus, it will

be a significant supporting capacity for further

maturation of child literacy (Castro, et al., 2011).

The effectiveness aspect is known that through

the t test, the significance value is 0.00 which means

<0.05, there are significant differences before and

after treatment and the hypothesis is accepted. The

effectiveness aspect was analyzed by comparing the

pre-test and post-test scores of students before

receiving treatment and after receiving treatment.

Aspects assessed in this study include aspects of

communication skills. First is the ability to discuss

the results of activities of a problem or event. This is

relevant to the skill of making the connection

between the information in the written sources with

the oral discussion presented in the class. This

becomes one of the challenges the students needed

that integrate between writing activities with the real

experience during the learning (Gerde et al., 2015).

Another indication is the ability to present

experimental data in the form of tables figures. Since

understanding abstract data and present them is not

easy for students, the ability to present the data in

the form of tables or figures becomes another

significant competence of communication skills.

Creating visual representation is one of the

challenges for students to make it more meaningful

compared than description using longer explanation

(DeJarnette, 2018).

Students are also expected to be able to answer

questions from problems. This activity will change

the orientation of learning from the teacher center

into student center activities where the learning

outcomes can be assesed more easily (Li & Tsai,

2018). Using problem based learning, teacher can

identify the progress of student’s understanding on

the science course material presented.

Another skill that indicates improvement of

communication ability is the performance to submit

data verbally. In this case, the student’s engagement

with others to ensure the understanding of the data

performed during the discussion support the quality

of class interaction. The activity of verbalizing the

data involves sharing resources that can be done in

both group or class discussion (Knapp, 2018).

As the final mark of communication skill is the

ability to make conclusions in writing. For primary

school children writing task is not easy, particularly

in making conclusion in their writing. Through the

teaching materials on science which drawing

attention to interesting topics from their

environment, it can support making natural

connection with their observation as their daily

experience (Bingham et al., 2018).

5 CONCLUSION

Based on the development process and the

results of trials on encyclopedia-based teaching

materials, it can be concluded that the encyclopedia-

based teaching materials are presented in accordance

with the objectives of developing instructional

materials that facilitate students in understanding

scientific material, especially on Earth and Natural

Events.

This teaching material is used for fifth graders at

Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Assa'adah Sukowati Bungah

Gresik. Based on the validity test by material or

content experts, design experts, and learning experts,

this material on science subjects is declared to be

very valid for use in the learning process. The

attractiveness of encyclopedia-based teaching

materials based on the percentage of data obtained is

91.63%.

Encyclopedia based Material for Science Course to Improve Communication Ability of Ibtidaiyah Madrasah Students

1301

The analysis of the effectiveness level of

instructional materials on students' communication

skills obtained the calculation results of t-count of

5.55 and t table of 1.696. This shows that this

encyclopedia-based teaching material development

product is effectively used in learning.

The development of this teaching material is one

manifestation of the commitment for developing the

quality of education for Muslim children in the

world. The same thing is also intensified in other

developing countries (Mwaura & Marfo, 2011) to

promote the quality of graduates of Islamic primary

schools that gain competency achievements

according to national education goals.

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