The Indonesian government provides a platform for teachers to learn how to implement the new curriculum called “Kurikulum Merdeka” (in English: “Freedom Learning”). We, the teachers, can access the information about it at https://guru.kemdikbud.go.id/. When I was scrolling the website, I found an interesting video entitled “Profil Pelajar Pancasila – Kreatif”. The video tells about one of the core values in the curriculum: creativity. I found it interesting because it was very relatable to the situation that I face right now.
Loyola College, Indonesia has been implementing Kurikulum Merdeka since the beginning of this academic year (2022/2023). The curriculum gives the student responsibility to finish several projects during their senior-high-school life. One of the exciting projects is a research project. Students in a group should do research. The research could be about natural science, social science, physical education, language, or even history. Every group is given a teacher as the supervisor during the process. Therefore, as a supervisor of four research teams, I have to encourage my students to be as creative as they are to finish the research.
The video I watched told me about what creativity is. The student is qualified as a creative student if they are able to produce or modify an idea that is useful and has novelty. Students desired to be problem solvers. Moreover, students have to be able to present thoughts, opinions, feelings, and concepts related to problem-solving. Through creativity, students are expected to be able to create something valuable and beneficial for the community. Students have prepared to become agents of change who will build our country for a better future.
In the research project, students should be creative when finding the topics. It was not an easy mission for them because this was their first time. However, they could pass the challenge of being creative by finding an impressive subject I had never expected. Students are able to come up with ideas to solve various problems around them using the knowledge they already have. For example, one group had anxiety about the amount of plastic waste around them. Then, they think creatively to solve problems by producing edible films. They had an idea to make edible films as an alternative to plastic packaging for instant noodles. Another group saw that detergent waste polluted the waters because it was difficult to decompose. Then they proposed a solution to make detergent from natural ingredients, orange juice. They chose orange juice because it contains citric acid having high detergency.
Students bumped into various problems while conducting a research project. Some groups faced failure because the methods they got from scientific articles didn’t work in real situations. Actually, I could give them the solution to the problem they faced. However, I didn’t take the easy way by providing an instant solution. I let them solve the problem by themselves. I asked them to read scientific articles from different journals and then find out why the previous methods didn’t work. The process wasn’t easy, but it helped them to reveal their creativity to every problem they encountered.
As a teacher, I support my students to experience the learning process for creativity development. I don’t indulge my student by giving instant answers and solutions. I always encourage and guide them to find their own solution. Students must take winding roads to become someone with a highly creative soul to build the country. I believe creativity is achieved, not given.
