Using Blended Learning Model Method: Interactive Websites to Attract Student's Interest in Learning Science

Abstract

The 2013 curriculum in Indonesia encourages educators to provide technology embedded learning activities. Blended learning is a learning method that combines face-to-face activity and ICT-based learning through several learning sources from internet in order to assist pupils to learn certain topics easily. This learning method can provide great effective experiences for learners by combining the different learning environments. The websites addressed which serve as knowledge sources in the blended learning method are http://www.brainpop.com/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/. Those websites provide videos, games, and explanations about science that motivate students to learn and to comprehend a topic. They also contain well-developed pictures, three-dimensional models, animations and interactive environments that attract learner's motivation. They are expected to be able to assist teachers facilitate students interactively. This study aims at seeing the student's interest to learn science through the use of those two websites in the blended learning method. This descriptive research was conducted toward 10 students at 8 Grade of SMPN 12 Surabaya in June 2014. The participants were asked to fill out the questionnaires to analyze the data on student's motivation to learn science during the class. Each student responded toward the two websites that were used in this blended learning method. According to the result of the questionnaires, every student gave positive responses toward two websites. The average of percentage of student responses toward http://www.brainpop.com/ was 93%; meanwhile the total percentage of student responses toward http://www.bbc.co.uk/ was 89%. Therefore, these data proves that the use of those two websites in the blended learning method was able to attract the student's interest in learning science. Index Terms - Blended learning, 2013 curriculum, website, and student's interest.