Kurikulum Merdeka - Being a Constructivist Teacher, Ready?

Released on Gema Widyakarya PGRI No. 07/Th.XXVII/2022

By: Ahmad Bachtiar Zen (Bach)

             Do you know what has already been a trending topic, today? Do you also know what topic teachers always discuss, nowadays? Ya. It is Independence Curriculum or Freedom Curriculum (read: Kurikulum Merdeka). Since Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology has already launched the curriculum, it has been the main issue in the education field. At every single moment, the teachers talk about it.

            So, then, what? What is exactly the curriculum? What is the different point of curriculum design from the previous one? What approach is adopted? Discussing more it, especially for the curriculum design Keputusan Kepala Badan Standar, Kurikulum, dan Asesmen Pendidikan Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset, dan Teknologi Nomor 008/H/Kr/2022 tentang Capaian Pembelajaran pada Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini, Jenjang Pendidikan Dasar, dan Jenjang Pendidikan Menengah pada Kurikulum Merdeka that the curriculum is based on the constructivist approach introduced by Piaget and Vygotsky.  The main ideas of the theories explain that students learn by interacting with their environment.

            Now, what is the constructivist approach? Is it similar to the approach we applied in the previous curriculum? In order to get the answer, let us know what the approach is. The government expects that when the curriculum is based on the approach, the student's skills, knowledge, and characters will be automatically improved.

            In correlating with applying for the constructivist approach benefits, Dr. BADA, Steve Olusegun, Department of the Psychology Federal University of Education, Kano in his journal entitled Constructivism Learning Theory: A Paradigm for Teaching and Learning explains that there are several benefits of constructivism. They are: (1) the students can learn more, and enjoy their learning when they want to be actively involved, rather than passively (2) the process of learning works best when it focuses on the way how the students think and understand, rather than memorize, (3) it is transferable. (4) it gives the students authority on what they will learn since it is based on their questions and explorations, and also they are involved in designing the assessments as well, (5) facilitating learning activities in an authentic, contextual, approach stimulates the students. In constructivist classrooms, the student learns to ask things and to apply their natural curiosity of thought globally, (6) by providing a classroom environment, the approach improves social and communication skills.

            The benefits explain to us that the approach understands the students’ needs and expectations. It also supports Independent Curriculum or Freedom Curriculum (read; Kurikulum Merdeka) that curriculum has a varied intra-curricular program that is expected to be optimal in content and to give much time for the students to explore the concept to strengthen their own competencies. What does it mean? It means that a teacher is not the only one who controls the learning process. The students have the authority to choose their own needs to accomplish their learning achievements.

            As Steve Olusegun quotes Tam's (2000) book entitled Constructivism, Instructional Design, and Technology: Implications for Transforming Distance Learning. Educational Technology and Society, explain that as teachers, we can apply the approach in order to support the learning process. It is because of the characteristics of the constructivist learning environment itself.  In other words, when we want to implement the approach including the constructivist instructional strategies in our learning process, we will find that the learning process will find the learning objective we expect, properly. It is because the basic characteristics of the constructivist learning environments emphasize:

1)         Teachers and students have their own authority to share knowledge

2)         The authority can be shared by teachers and students.

3)         One of the teacher’s functions is as a facilitator or guide.

4)         A group of learning has small quantities of varied students.

            Now, are we ready to be constructivist teachers? If we are, what should we prepare? What should we also provide our students in our class? In order to answer the questions, it is better for us to know the pedagogical objectives of constructivist learning environments in detail.

            Talking about the objective of constructivist learning environments, Steve Olusegun quotes Honebein's (1996) book entitled Seven goals for the design of constructivist learning environments. Constructivist Learning Environments: Case Studies in Instructional Design describes seven objectives as follows:

1)       To provide experience with the process of knowledge construction, inside (here the students need to determine how they will learn).

2)       To provide experience in and appreciation for multiple views (possible solutions evaluation).

3)       To insert realistic contextual learning (authentic assessments).

4)       To support possession and a voice in the process of learning (student-centered).

5)       To insert learning into the social experience (collaboration).

6)       To support the multiple modes of use of representation, (video, audio text, etc.)

7)       To support awareness of the process of knowledge construction (reflection, metacognition).

            Now, it’s already been reasonable and clear enough that the government adopts the approach to our curriculum. Then, How? Are we ready to apply the approach to our learning process in class? Are we ready to be constructivist teachers? Of course, we’re always ready to apply it. Hopefully, the curriculum will bring our students not only their own best competencies and characteristics but they can also achieve their best target or goal in the future.