The Investment of Character Building of Elementary School

Students Through Mathematical Learning with Experiential

based on Game Strategy

Iesyah Rodliyah, Sari Saraswati and Nihayatus Sa’adah

Department of Mathematics Education, University of Hasyim Asy’ari, Jl. Irian Jaya 55 Tebuireng Tromol Pos IX

Tebuireng, Jombang, Indonesia

Keywords: Character, Math Learning, Experiential, Game.

Abstract: Silberman (2014) stated that initial experience as a child makes the game is a way to learn. Playing is an

important part of human development. Doing something while playing will be interesting if it presents a

challenge. Games that are centered on active participants can be used as an innovative and fun element in the

learning experience. This research aims to invest elementary students’ character building through

mathematics learning with experiential based game strategy. Meanwhile, character building is invested are

religious, honest, tolerant, discipline, hard work, creative, independent, curiosity, reading pleasure,

cooperation, and responsibility. This study is a part of a major research that has been partitioned into several

titles and used development research method. The Thiagarajan, Semmel and Semmel development model

introduced in 1974 is known as the 4-D model: defining, designing, developing, and disseminating. The

research subject was MI Al Asy'ari grade 4 as a trial class and SD Islam Makarimul Akhlaq grade 4. We used

qualitative research methods. This is used as a research procedure that produces descriptive data in the form

of written words and observable behavior. The results showed that mathematics learning with game-based

experiential strategy able to invest character building of elementary school students.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the goals of national education as stated in

Article I of the National Education System Law of

2003 is about the formation of characters that contain

"develop the potential of learners to have intelligence,

personality and noble character." (Salafudin, 2013).

The importance of character building is expected to

provide awareness to the educators in order to build

the character of learners in every teaching and

learning activity both at school and at the university

as a means of behavior formation, enrichment of

individual, values by being a role model for learners.

Efforts to develop the character of the learner should

be optimized by the teacher or lecturer by integrating

character building in every learning process in class.

Because it is the biggest mission of national

education, it requires all educators to have a high

concern for the attitude, character, and moral of the

Indonesian. Based on the Indonesian dictionary, the

word "character" is defined as the nature of the human

mind that affects all thoughts and behaviors. It means

the character is related to moral strength, "positive"

connotation and not being neutral. Thus, people are

said to have character if he has a certain positive

moral qualities.

Rasiman and Pramasdyahsari (2014) said that

education builds character, implicitly implies to

establish behavioral character and pattern that are

based on or related to positive or good moral

dimensions, not negative or bad. Chapman (2011)

added that there were so much benefits and strengths

of character so that if character building in school

curriculum is properly implemented, it can make a

different world which means positively affect the

lives of all students involved.

Agboola and Tsai (2012) also showed that

essentially the goal of character building is to model

the characteristics of student’s good character.

Character building at the elementary level is one of

the earliest cultivation and character formation of

students because it is invested from an early age and

the students are also in development time. Character

building that is invested in learning mathematics in

510

Rodliyah, I., Saraswati, S. and Sa’adah, N.

The Investment of Character Building of Elementary School Students through Mathematical Learning with Experiential based on Game Strategy.

DOI: 10.5220/0008524605100516

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Mathematics and Islam (ICMIs 2018), pages 510-516

ISBN: 978-989-758-407-7

this research is religious, honest, tolerant, discipline,

hard work, creative, independent, curiosity, reading

pleasure, cooperation, and responsibility.

To optimize character building in school

curriculum especially on mathematics subject, there

needs to be integration between character building

and learning strategy in teaching and learning

activity. Its abstract nature makes the subject of

mathematics requires the right strategy to achieve the

desired goal. Henriksen and Mehta (2016) have said

that creativity is one of the most important and

desirable qualities of thinking to succeed in the

twenty-first century. Creative, inventive, and

collaborative thinking is a necessary tool for the

context of real-world mathematics. Appropriate

learning strategy to the context of real world

mathematics is experiential learning, a real-world

learning strategy that will be used as one of the

solutions in this research to build the character of

students especially elementary students. Game

learning is a main approach in experiential learning.

Learning games centered on active participants which

can be used as an innovative and fun element in the

learning experience. This strategy is not used solely

for wanting learners to rejoice during the process of

teaching and learning, but as a means to achieve the

goal (Silberman, 2014).

Based on the explanation above, the purpose of

this research is to describe the character building’s

investment through mathematics learning with

experiential learning strategy based on games for

elementary students. We hope, educators always

apply the character building in learning at the schools,

considering the development in this era of

globalization that many things happened in the world

of education, especially in elementary school.

2 METHOD

2.1 Research Location and Subject

Design research is a series of plans that will be

applied on the acquisition of information to be

generated This research was conducted at the Faculty

of Education, Mathematics Education Department,

University of Hasyim Asy 'Ari. The campus location

is located on Jl. Irian Jaya 55 Tebuireng Tromol Pos

IX Jombang. In addition, this research also involves

two other institutions namely MI Al Asy'ari Keras

Jombang and SD Islam Makarimul Akhlaq Jombang.

The population in this study were all fourth grade

students. Sampling in this research was taken through

random sampling technique (Sugiyono, 2010). The

implementation of random sampling technique is

done by drawing.

2.2 Research Design

Design research is a series of plans that will be

applied on the acquisition of information to be

generated based on research activities undertaken.

The design of this research can be described as

follows:

Figure 1: Research Design.

2.3 Data Collection and Data Analysis

Techniques

This research used qualitative research methods. It is

used as a research procedure that produces descriptive

data in the form of written words and observable

behavior. The data generated in this study is data in

the form of words from the subjects and informants

either in written or oral words. This research uses

qualitative research methods because data obtained

are data in the form of descriptive data that do not use

data in the form of numbers to explain the results of

research. The research method used in this research is

adapted to the main objective of the research is to

describe the character building through the learning

of mathematics with experiential learning strategy

based on the game of the students in elementary level.

Data analysis in this research is describing the

investing of character building through the learning

of mathematics with experiential learning strategy

based on the game of elementary students. The steps

The Investment of Character Building of Elementary School Students through Mathematical Learning with Experiential based on Game

Strategy

511

of data analysis are as follows: (1) Data reduction

(Reduce data means summarize, sort things out, focus

on things that are important, look for themes and

patterns and remove unnecessary. (2) Display data

(presents data in the form of matrices, Networks,

charts or graphs, so the researcher can control the data

and not drown with a stack of data) (3) Conclusion

and verification (Initial conclusions are temporary

and will change if no evidence is found strong support

at the data collection stage) (Sugiyono, 2010).

2.4 Data Validity Test

In qualitative research, the level of validity is more

emphasized on the data obtained. It means that the

confidence on data research results can be said to

have a significant influence on the success of a

research. Data validity can be obtained by conducting

credibility test to the data result in accordance with

the test procedure of data credibility in qualitative

research. There were many kinds of data validity test,

such as the extension of observation, increased

persistence in research, triangulation, discussion with

peers, negative case analysis and member checks. In

this study the researchers conducted an extension of

the observer which is done to deepen what has been

obtained. "Increasing time in the field certainly gives

an opportunity for researchers to make details of his

observations." (Sugiyono, 2010)

3 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Mathematics Learning with

Experiential Strategy based Game

Learning by experiential strategy is learning that

begins by immersing learners in an experience and

then encourages reflection on experiences to develop

new skills, new attitudes, or new ways of thinking

(Schwartz, 2012). Silberman (2014) added that

experiential learning can be based on real work / life

experience and structured experience that simulates

or approaches real life experiences. Experiential

learning uses a wide range of methodologies

(Silberman, 2014), including: field experience, role

playing, games, simulation, visualization,

storytelling, adventure activities, etc. But in this

study, researchers used experimental learning based

on learning games.

Siberman (2014) revealed that game learning is a

main approach in experiential learning. Early

experiences as children make the game as a way to

learn. Playing is an important part of human

development. A game based activity will be

interesting if it provides opposition. Games centered

on active participants, can be used as an innovative

and fun element in the learning experience.

In this research, we use the story / problem solving

in class. There are 5 materials used by the researcher

to build the character of the students through

experiential strategy based on game. Those are

Currency, Least Common Multiple and Greatest

Common Factor, Fraction Number, Integers, and

circumference and area of triangle and parallelogram.

The following will describe the learning activities of

mathematics using experiential learning strategy

based on each game material.

1. Material : Problem Story of Currency

Activities:

 Make an interesting game on this material, one

of those is Role Play

 In Role Play, the teacher can prepare scenarios

practiced in class

 The scenario could be about “Buy and Sell” by

involving the background of the cooperative,

canteen or in the class itself. With a note if in

class, the teacher must prepare goods to be

traded

 Involve students in the play with scenarios

"Currency Story Problem"

 Another alternative if the teacher does not

prepare the scenario is by asking the students

to make their own setting and write their script

Materials Required: Some goods traded, Currency

ranging from the smallest to the highest value,

Script / Screenplay, and Paper (note of goods that

will be bought)

2. Material : Problem Story Least Common

Multiple and Greatest Common Factor

Least Common Multiple (LCM)

Activities:

 Make an interesting game, one of those is

Joyful Number Clap (JNC)

 In Joyful Number Clap (JNC), teacher asked

students to clap their hand happily if a number

is mentioned. However, It is not for all

numbers

 The concept of Joyful Number Clap (JNC) is

teacher ask student on a number mentioned.

For example: teacher ask student to clap if the

number she/he mentioned is the multiple of

two, etc

 In this game, LCM concept can be inserted.

For example: dividing the class into two

groups. First group must clap if teacher

ICMIs 2018 - International Conference on Mathematics and Islam

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mention the number of two and it’s multiple.

While second group must clap if teacher

mention the number of three and it’s multiple.

After doing clap, teacher let the student

observe.

Materials required: marker or chalk, paper.

Greatest Common Factor

Activities:

 Make interesting games, one of those is A

Magic Bag

 In Magic Bag, teacher asked one student to

solve the problem. For example: problem is

written in test book “Latihan Dulu Yuk”

number 2

 The concept of Magic Bag is teacher prepares

36 candies and 24 chocolates. Teacher asked

to one student

 The teacher’s question is how many students

are given candy and chocolate to get as

much?

 Then, the one students before can think or ask

friend to practice by share candy and chocolate

in same portion

 The friend that help the student before can get

a magic bag

Materials required: bag, goods used in the

learning (candy, chocolate, etc)

3. Material : Problem Story of Integers

Activities:

 Make an interesting game like Card Number

 In Card Number, teacher makes card as same

as the number of student, then deliver it to the

students

 This Card Number consist of question and

answer related with fraction number

 Student’s job is to find the mate of the question

and answer. It also can be called Make a

Match

 After finding the mates, teacher checks

together with the students and reflects again

every question and answer in Card Number.

Materials required: Card Number, marker/ chalk

4. Material : Problem Story of Fraction Number

Activities:

 Make an interesting game like Magic Circle

 In Magic Circle, Teacher prepares many

circles in big, medium, and small from

cardboard

 The function of the circle is to introduce

student about the concept of integers together

with the illustration of problem story solving

 First, teacher introduce integers concept as

division of an object. The object used is circle

magic. For example,

is obtained by cutting 1

circle into 2 equal parts. Do the same thing

with the integers, like

, and

. After that,

ask the students to compare the piece of circle

, 𝑒𝑡𝑐.

 Then, teacher asks student to imagine that the

circle is a cake. Let the student to solve the

teacher’s problem when he/she want to divide

the cake. The example question is I have a

circle cake.

𝟏

𝟐

of cake, I gave to Ani,

𝟏

𝟒

of cake

I gave to Rina, how much is the rest of my

cake?

 Beside using Circle Magic, other alternative

media that we used is string or ribbon.

Materials required: cardboard that has been cut

into Circle Magic, marker/ chalks, and string or

ribbon (for the next game, optional)

5. Material: problem story of circumference and

area of triangle and parallelogram

Activities:

 Make an interesting game like D & C (Draw

& Count)

 In D & C, divide the class into two groups,

then teacher asks student to sit in circle (the

class can be indoor or outdoor).

 By using the floor/ground floor, teacher draws

triangle/parallelogram with chalks/marker and

gives the size of its side (the size must be from

the smallest first).

 First, the size of the side can be the size of

student’s foot. Then, teacher can begin to give

size on each side ranging from small to large.

 This concept of D & C, teacher asks one

students to come forward to measure the

circumference by going around of the side.

 Before coming forward, students have given

small paper to discuss the answer with their

friends.

 If the measurement is wrong, that student must

go inside of the triangle until his/her friend

help them outside by measuring in the right

way. Meanwhile if the measurement is right,

the group will get star as the reward.

 Do the same with the area, teacher prepares

small paper to students to discuss the area.

 Students discuss the answer together with the

group.

Materials required: marker/ chalks, small pieces of

paper, eraser, wet tissue (to wipe marker line in the

floor.

The Investment of Character Building of Elementary School Students through Mathematical Learning with Experiential based on Game

Strategy

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3.2 Character Building Invested in

Mathematics Learning with

Experiential Strategy based Game

In this study, the investment of character building

focuses on 11 character values. Those are religious,

honest, tolerant, disciplined, hard work, creative,

independent, curiosity, happy reading, cooperation,

and responsibility. According to the Directorate

General of Secondary Education (2011: 34), the

character building can be described as table 1.

3.3 Analysis on Investing Elementary

Student’s Character Building

through Math Learning with

Experiential Strategy based Game

In general, the investment of character building in

mathematics learning using game-based experiential

strategy is done optimally. In each teaching-learning

activity indirectly, educators always insert the values

of character.

The values of character in mathematics learning

using game-based experiential strategy are as follows:

1. Religious

Faith is the value of character in relation to God

the Almighty. In other words, human's thoughts,

words, and actions must always based on the

values of the God or religious teachings.

Practically, before the learning and teaching

activities begin, the teacher asks students to start

and end the learning by praying (figure 2).

2. Honesty and Independence

Basically honesty and independence is not only

owned in the area of cognition but also practiced

in real life. It is shown from the practice when

students are asked to do their own assignment.

Most students do on their own, with their abilities

and beliefs without depending on others. Even so,

there are still students who look for opportunities.

But when they are reminded by the teacher, the

student immediately discouraged (figure 3).

3. Tolerant

The attitude of tolerance that appears in the

teaching and learning activities is when the

students give an opinion about the results of his

work and the other students listen and appreciate

his opinion if it is not appropriate. If there were

differences of opinion, the student will speak it

after the other students finished in convey his

opinion without any element of hate / kind.

Table 1: Character Building Description.

No.

Value

Description

Religious

Attitudes and behavior are

obedient in implementing

religious teachings

Honest

Behavior based on an attempt to

make himself or herself

trustworthy in words, actions,

and work

Tolerant

Attitudes and actions that

respect different religious,

ethnic, opinion other people’s

differentiation

Discipline

Measures that demonstrate

orderly behavior and abide by

various rules and regulations

Hard Work

Behavior that shows a genuine

effort to overcome the obstacles

of learning and duty, and

complete the tasks as well as

possible

Creative

Think and do something to

generate new ways or results

from something you already

have

Independent

Attitudes and behaviors that are

not easy depend on others in

completing tasks

Curiosity

Attitudes and actions that

always strive to know more

deeply and extensively from

what they learn, see, and hear

Happy

Reading

The habit of taking the time to

read the various that give good

to him

10.

Cooperation

Attitudes and actions that can

demonstrate team cohesiveness,

such as teams in study groups,

helping each other and

complementing each other

11.

Responsible

Attitudes and behavior of a

person to carry out his duties and

obligations, which he should do

to himself, society, environment

(Nature, social, and culture), and

the state of God Almighty.

Figure 2: Praying together.

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514

Figure 3: Do the assignment in the test book.

4. Discipline

Discipline is well implemented. It is seen in the

teaching and learning activities. There are no

students that are late to come, the homework was

completed properly.

5. Hard Work

Hard work in this case is seen from the earnest

spirit to follow the learning and do the task with

full responsibility. They are aware of her

obligations as a student.

6. Creative

This is seen from the some student answers that

use new methods that fit the concept with the

material being taught (figure 4).

Figure 4: Student’s Answer in Integers Question.

7. Curiosity

The curiosity of each student is seen at when the

teacher gives the opportunity to ask, the student's

active role is very visible. Most of the students ask

bravely without shame

8. Happy Reading

Pleased to read is seen at the meeting of learning.

Students have been able to follow the learning

well, because the teacher has requested that

students to equip themselves with learning the day

before. They might read either in the existing or

personal print books, student worksheets that have

been obtained or looking for information and

other references in the library and others

9. Cooperation

In teaching and learning activities, teachers are

often to divide the students into several groups. At

the time of the grouping, the cooperation of each

group is visible while completing a given game or

worksheet. They are seen sharing ideas,

exchanging ideas, helping each other, and

equipping them (figure 5).

Figure 5: Cooperation in the group.

10. Responsibility

It is seen as the attitudes and behaviors of students

when doing the assignment given by the teacher.

The students do the assignment according to the

instructions given by the teacher. All are

completed properly: both of individual and group

assignments, both home and school assignments

(figure 6).

Figure 6: Students are doing the assignment given by the

teacher.

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4 CONCLUSIONS

Based on the research results, it can be concluded that

the investing of character building values in the

learning of mathematics with experiential strategy

based on games in the academic year 2017 - 2018 is

generally done optimally. Each teaching and learning

is always inserted the character values, with the

support of math learning devices that use game-based

experiential strategy. The process of investing is then

applied through understanding, habituation, and good

role models, started from the teacher and delivered to

the students, adapted to the material and student

condition.

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Chapman, A. M., 2011. Implementing Character Education

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Henriksen, D. and Mehta, R., 2016. A Beautiful Mindset:

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