>> Learning Media for Interesting and Creative Elementary Schools (By: Vanesya Akmal, Mathematics FPMIPA UPI)

Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the education world has been forced to move the teaching and learning process from school to home to break the chain of corona virus spread. To get around the situation, Indonesia implements Learning from Home (BDR) activities. BDR method itself there are two, namely Distance Learning In Network (PJJ Online) and PJJ Offline. PJJ Daring specifically combines electronic technology and internet-based technology, while PJJ Offline can be done through television broadcasts, radio, self-learning modules, print materials and learning media from objects in the surrounding environment.

Media has an important role in the learning process in schools as a tool to develop children’s insights that put concrete ways of thinking in teaching and learning activities by understanding the psychological condition of students. Learning media is a tool that supports the implementation of teacher creativity in the teaching and learning process and smooth learning process with conducive situations. But the reality is that learning media is often overlooked for reasons of limited time to make teaching preparations, difficulty finding the right media, and unavailability of costs.

Education for elementary school-age children is certainly different from education in adolescence and adulthood. Educators should pay attention and consider the characteristics of students in order to achieve learning objectives. According to the characteristics of elementary school students, at this age range in the learning process, children often lose focus and can only sit quietly for at least 30 minutes. The right learning media can be an effective tool to help the teaching and learning process in order to be conducive and achieve material understanding by students.

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia contributed to tackling the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in education. One of them is the Thematic Real Work Lecture on Village Building through Education and Economics in the Implementation of MBKM during the Pandemic (MDBPE-MBKM Thematic Kkn). In the field of education, KKN Thematic MDBPE-MBKM with Learning Media program for Elementary Schools that attract and creative produce learning media that is specially designed by considering the characteristics and needs of elementary school-age children. Examples such as mathematical props of fractional number materials, Powerpoint with interesting designs, to practice problems using Quizizz. This learning medium is one form of efforts in maintaining the concentration of children’s learning, facilitating the understanding of materials, and improving children’s learning enthusiasm. This is useful for strengthening online learning in primary schools.

In addition, there are also videos on tips and how to recognize the child’s learning style for parents to make it easier to teach their children effectively. This content can help parents to be able to direct their children to enjoy their learning process, regardless of the choice of learning style of the child. With this, it is expected to help educators in facilitating the achievement of learning objectives.