The Wara-Wiri Learning Model: A Fun, Lively, and Enjoyable Cooperative Learning Strategy at School

 

The Wara-Wiri learning model is a cooperative learning innovation that invites students to learn while adventuring outside the classroom. Through activities involving searching for and answering questions hidden around the school environment, students learn in an active, creative, and enjoyable way. This model fosters collaboration, responsibility, and a high enthusiasm for learning. Implemented at SMP Negeri 11 Kota Bogor, Wara-Wiri has proven to create a lively and spirited classroom atmosphere. It is suitable for teachers who wish to bring innovative and interactive learning to their schools.

The Wara-Wiri learning model ( Dokumen ) 

Cooperative learning is one of the efforts to realize active, creative, effective, and enjoyable learning. Cooperative learning provides students with opportunities to interact with one another. When students explain the meaning of a concept to their peers, they are actually undergoing a very effective learning process that can yield far greater learning outcomes than if they simply listened to the teacher's explanation. Cooperative learning provides students with opportunities to develop several life skills, known as communication skills and collaboration skills.

The Wara-Wiri Learning Model (Author's Documentation)
These skills play an important role in real life. Cooperative learning can also be used as a means to instill an inclusive attitude, which is an openness to the various differences that exist among fellow students at school. The experience of working together with peers who differ in terms of religion, ethnicity, academic achievement, gender, and so on is expected to help students appreciate these differences. Unfortunately, in daily learning, cooperative learning is often understood simply as sitting together in groups. Students sit in groups but do not interact with each other to facilitate mutual learning. Students in groups work individually.

The implementation of cooperative learning will yield effective results if it pays attention to the following two core principles. The first is the existence of positive interdependence. All members of the group depend on each other to achieve the group's goals, such as completing an assignment from the teacher. The second principle is individual accountability. Here, each group member must contribute actively to the collaboration.

Therefore, it is important for us to study several forms of cooperative learning and their actual implementation so that misunderstandings about group/cooperative learning can be avoided. Currently, many learning models can be tried and practiced in the classroom. One of them is the adventure-based learning model.

When many learning models had already been implemented in the classroom, the author had the idea to conduct a different type of learning by discovering a new learning model. In the implementation of this model, students learn outside the classroom. As it happened, I was teaching Social Studies during the 5th and 6th periods in class VIII G at SMP Negeri 11 Kota Bogor. First, I prepared materials in the form of 10 questions on the topic of "Economic Actors." Next, these 10 questions were cut into individual pieces and attached to cardboard.

During the first break, the ten pieces of cardboard containing the questions were placed scattered around the school corners. Some were placed on the flagpole, some on the classroom stairs, and some under the corridor plant pots. To make it interesting and challenging, the question cards were placed in hidden spots. After that, I entered class VIII G as usual. I carried out opening activities in the teaching and learning process, including conveying the learning objectives, posing several high-level questions to guide students toward achieving the objectives, and introducing the adventure-based learning model to the students.

Next, the students in their groups were tasked with reading the textbook about economic actors for 10 minutes. Actually, during the previous meeting, students had also been assigned to read the textbook chapter on economic actors at home. After finishing reading the textbook, the students, still in groups, were tasked with finding the questions that had been spread around the school environment and answering them properly on the provided paper. The students were only tasked with answering the 10 questions that had been made. I named this activity of searching for questions around the school area the adventure-based learning model. I gave the students 40 minutes for the adventure. An enjoyable atmosphere was evident as students sought challenges by finding the questions "hidden" in their school environment.

In this learning activity, there was a sense of togetherness and problem-solving carried out by students within their groups. Students would find a question, then answer it as a group, then find another question and answer it again, continuing this process until they finished. After 40 minutes had passed, the students were asked to return to the classroom.

Afterwards, each group that managed to find all 10 questions and had answered them was given the first opportunity to do a group presentation. If time permitted, all groups would present in turn. However, if time was limited, the teacher would invite two more groups. The second presentation was for groups that found and answered 9 questions, while the final presentation was for the group that found and answered the fewest questions.

During the group presentations, the teacher gave students the opportunity to assess other groups' presentations as a group. To ensure that all students remained focused on the learning during the presentations, the teacher used Ice Breaking activities between group presentations. At the end of the learning activity, a learning reflection was conducted where the teacher asked the students:

• Does today's learning align with the learning objectives?

• What new things did you gain from today's learning?

• What are the benefits of learning the material on economic actors?

After this, at the end of the activity, the teacher gave an unstructured assignment: to find pictures of economic actors in magazines or on the internet, provide comments on them, and submit them next week. Based on my notes about this field experience at SMP Negeri 11 Kota Bogor, it is worthy of being used as a reference for trying to develop active learning in your own school. Give it a try; students are always eager for innovation in the learning you implement.

Conclusion

The Wara-Wiri Learning Model is a simple innovation capable of:

• creating an active and exciting learning atmosphere,

• fostering collaboration and responsibility,

• and increasing students' motivation to learn.

From the experience at SMP Negeri 11 Kota Bogor, it is clear that students are very enthusiastic about this different learning model.
Teachers can also gain new energy to innovate.