Topic: “Learning by doing”,

“a teaching method set up for a school in Pacung North Bali”

Marga is a retired teacher from the Netherlands. Marga also lived in Kenia for a long time (when her husband worked there as a medical doctor). More then ten years ago Marga and her husband moved to Pacung (North Bali). They live there 6 months a year. In Pacung they helped setting up several social projects like a traditional weavery, a kindergarten and a place for afternoon education. They were able to have two books published in the Indonesian language about the two Educational programs. The books give an overview of all the projects that were carried out over the years, and are excellent handbooks for Indonesian kindergarten, primary and high school teachers.

Pacung is near to Tejakula which is about 30 Km east of Singaraja along the north coast road. She outlined a brief history of their journey with the activities in Pacung. They started by settiing up a foundation in Holland that was able to raise funds for the project. But quickly they realised they needed a foundation in Bali to manage things locally.

Once they became involved with the teaching, they found that the students tended to remember lots of information as disconnected "facts" - the information was not associated with life experiences. So in searching for teaching methods that would overcome this they developed what is now called Learning by Doing. Then, over the years, they collected the material they developed and have now published it as 3 volumes. Marga presented a set to Robbie (our Club President) for use in our Education and Literacy projects.

The video shows many of the activites inluding handicrafts, sewing, drama, dance, electrical wiring and motor mechanics. They also have gamelan classes for women - which ius unusual in North Bali.

The video is too large to make available for download - given that we mostly have slow links. But we can make DVD copies for anyone who needs it.