International Journal of Educational Research Open (Jan 2022)
The prospective science teachers' skills in reconstructing indigenous knowledge of local culture on breast milk using pare (Momordica charantia)
Abstract
Traditional communities still maintain a traditional way of life that relies on nature (Nuangchalerm et al., 2022). In the Dieng community, which occupies the mountains, pregnant women have a tradition of stimulating breast milk using pare (Momordica charantia), which has been done for generations as the inheritance of their ancestors. This study aims to explore the tradition of the community using bitter melon to stimulate breast milk in pregnant women. Prospective science teachers explore reconstructing the community's indigenous knowledge through local cultural studies on breast milk stimulation in the Dieng Plateau community. The exploration process is measured as the skills of prospective science teachers in reconstructing indigenous knowledge. The learning strategy chosen is to visit learning resources in the environment to connect indigenous and scientific knowledge with the learning stages per Jerome Bruner's spiral curriculum. Students learning activities to build new knowledge include enactive, iconic, and symbolic stages. Students visit indigenous learning resources in the community to build knowledge through experiments. This research used mixed methods, with 11 pregnant Dieng women as the research target. The result of a t-test of correlation coefficient obtained by t-value equals 4.202 with a significance equal to 0.002. Hence, learning strategy with the cultural study influences students' skills in reconstructing indigenous knowledge of the community in Dieng. In conclusion, prospective science teachers have very good skills in reconstructing the community's indigenous knowledge through local cultural studies about breast milk. Students are helped to acquire knowledge after lecturers let them build hands-on experiences by exploring indigenous learning resources in the environment.
