Category Archives: Esai

Esai-esai pendidikan

What is The Sixth Sense of Children?

Resume Buku:

THE SIXTH SENSE OF CHILDREN: NURTURING YOUR CHILD’S INTUITIVE ABILITIES (Oleh Litany Burns)

Bab 1

APA YANG DIMAKSUD DENGAN INDRA KE ENAM SEORANG ANAK?

Pada Bab I ini dibahas mengenai apa sebenarnya yang dimaksud dengan indra ke-6 itu.  Apakah itu suatu kebetulan?  Intuisi seorang ibu?  Atau berupa bentuk lain dari komunikasi?

Definisi intuisi berdasarkan Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) adalah sebagai berikut: 1. daya atau kemampuan mengetahui atau memahami sesuatu tanpa dipikirkan atau dipelajari: bisikan hati: gerak hati. 2. wawasan atau pengetahuan yang menerangkan atau meramalkan peristiwa politik tanpa bergantung pada suatu proses penalaran secara sadar tanpa atau dengan bukti-bukti.

Sedangkan pada bab ini maka intuisi adalah kemampuan yang dimiliki sejak pertama seorang bayi dilahirkan ke dunia.  Secara spontan mereka mengembangkan kemampuan indra ke-enamnya (intuisi) mereka untuk komunikasi dan perlindungan diri.  Hal ini diperlukan sebelum kemampuan bahasa dan ketrampilan-ketrampilan lainnya berkembang.  Selain menggunakan ke-5 indra yang lainnya (melihat, mendengar, membau, dan meraba), bayi berhubungan dengan orang lain dengan indra ke-enamnya, dengan intuisinya.

Perilaku intuisi pada bayi sangat menarik para psikolog untuk mempelajarinya.  Apabila seorang bayi ditempatkan dalam suatu ruangan bersama seorang yang stress, ia akan dapat merasakannya dan akan bertingkah laku dengan gelisah.  Kemampuan untuk mengirim dan menerima pesan-pesan dari orang lain disebut”telepati”.  Hal ini merupakan kemampuan umum yang dimiliki dan digunakan bayi untuk berkomunikasi dengan orang dewasa.

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Deconstructing deep and surface: Towards a critique of phenomenography

The author of this article tried to deconstruct the deep/surface learning concept through a phenomenography perspective. After deconstructing the concept he used it as a metaphor to question the power within higher education development of discourse.  In order to do that, the writer first explained the reasons why he chose the terms of ‘deep’ and ‘surface’ learning as a metaphor and then he continued by describing the definition of deep/surface learning.  Finally, he proposed an argument about the relationship between the discourse and the power.

Deep learning concept refers to a process of learning which one tries to understand the material and build the meaning so that students can apply the knowledge in another situation. While in a surface learning, a student would just try to remember the facts or the materials. Many previous studies encouraged students to move from surface learning into deep learning style.

Also, according to many previous studies, the concept of deep learning is better than the surface learning. This raised a question and critiques about the ‘truth’ of this concept. Using phenomenography to capture the ‘Other’ voice, the writer then tried to deconstruct this concept.  According to him, we as a researcher cannot fall into two binaries of categories such as deep and surface and defined them as deep learning is good and the other is bad. Because even in surface learning, by memorising fact over and over again will lead to deep learning as well.

Using this deep/surface metaphor, the writer then asked the reader to have a critical thinking especially in the power within the higher education. Who have the authorities to speak about the truth? The higher education development discourse mainly dominance by white people (from western culture) who have more access to the media such as academic journals and conferences. Therefore, they have more chances to speak about their education development. The author strongly suggested opening our view to those people who were marginalized. To share the power and encouraged the ‘Other’ to present their perspective, interest and develop their own teaching and learning interpretation.

References:

Webb, G. (1997). Deconstructing deep and surface: Towards a critique of phenomenography. Higher Education 33:195-212

Models of the Help Seeking Process

Some people are reluctant to seek help if they perceive that they cannot pay an equal payment for the helper. When people ask for help, they estimate the balance of the cost and reward that the helper may obtain. This behaviour, the reluctance to seek help, can be explained by the equity theory.

According to equity theory, the decision to seek help from the help-seeker is based on the cost of the helper’s effort, and the outcomes or the positive rewards that the helper gets for providing help. Generally, help-seeker’s reactions are based on empathy and fear of negative reaction from the potential helper. For example, if the request for help is from a PhD student, it will be viewed as disturbing their thesis work, so they may not get help.

This is compared to asking for help from a professional such as a supervisor or psychologist who gets paid for the help provided. Shapiro (1980) states that people will ask more help when the cost of help provided by the helper is low. However, this situation only happens among strangers or professionals. With friends, even if the cost is high, it is still acceptable.

In academic setting, help-seeking is viewed as an adaptive problem solving skills that a student can learn from their teacher.

There are five steps in academic help-seeking processes develop by Nelson-Le Gall (1981) which; (1) student’s awareness of the help needed when they encounter academic difficulties, (2) student’s perceived of benefit and cost for asking a question or requesting help, (3) identify the potential helper, (4) manage a strategy to elicit help, (5) evaluate the process.

If the request were successful, the students will likely ask help more frequent, therefore, their ability of solving problem will improve as well.

Reference:

Gross, A. E., & McMullen, P. A. (1983). Models of the help-seeking process. In B. M. DePaulo, A. Nadler & J. D. Fisher (Eds.), New directions in helping (Vol. 2). London: Academic Press.

Nelson-Le Gall, S. (1981). Help-seeking: An understudied problem-solving skill in children. Developmental Review, 1(3), 224-246. doi: 10.1016/0273-2297(81)90019-8