Increasing Student Engagement and Understanding through Project-Based Learning on Asmaul Husna Materials

Zosmi Hartini¹, Mesterjon²

¹ Integrated Islamic Junior High School, Bengkulu City, Indonesia

² Dehasen University of Bengkulu, Indonesia

ABSTRACT: This research aims to improve the understanding of grade VII students of SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City towards Asmaul Husna (Al-‘Alim, Al-Khabir, As-Sami’, and Al-Bashir) through the application of a project-based learning model. The research was conducted on grade VII students of SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City in semester 1 (odd) of the 2024-2025 school year. The method used is Classroom Action Research (PTK) with a cycle design consisting of four stages: planning, action, observation, and reflection (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2023). The results of the study show that the application of this project-based learning model has succeeded in increasing student involvement in learning, understanding of the concept of Asmaul Husna, and the average score of student learning outcomes. In the pre-cycle stage, of the 12 students who were the subjects of the study, only 5 students (41.7%) achieved learning completeness with an average score of 72.5, while 7 students (58.3%) had not completed it. In the first cycle, there was an increase with 7 students (58.3%) achieving completeness and the average score increased to 79.6, while 5 students (41.7%) were still incomplete. In the second cycle, the level of completeness increased significantly to reach more than 80%, indicating the success of the implementation of this learning model. This study emphasizes the importance of an interactive and contextual learning approach to integrate religious values into the teaching and learning process (Arends, 2012; Trianto, 2010). Thus, the implementation of Project-Based Learning not only improves academic outcomes but also makes an important contribution to the formation of students’ religious character through innovative learning (Mulyasa, 2014; Sanjaya, 2016).

KEYWORDS: Asmaul Husna, Project-Based Learning, Student understanding, Interactive approach, Religious values, Innovative learning.

INTRODUCTION

Asmaul Husna is one of the important aspects in Islamic Religious Education which functions as the foundation for the formation of student character. However, the reality in the field shows that many students only know the names of Asmaul Husna without understanding their meaning. This can be seen from the low average score of students in the Asmaul Husna concept comprehension test, as well as the lack of implementation of these values in daily life.

This low understanding is caused by several factors. First, the learning approach used tends to be theoretical and less actively involving students (Arends, 2012; Sanjaya, 2016).

Most teachers still use lecture and memorization methods which make students passive and less involved in the learning process. Second, students find it difficult to relate the attributes of Allah to real life, so that the material of Asmaul Husna is often only understood as mere memorization without deep meaning (Mulyasa, 2014; Kemmis & McTaggart, 2023). Third, the lack of variety in media and learning methods causes students to feel bored and unmotivated to learn more about Asmaul Husna (Sugiyono, 2019; Trianto, 2010).

The conventional learning model dominated by lecture methods is less effective in attracting students’ interest in learning Asmaul Husna in depth. Therefore, innovative approaches such as Project-Based Learning (PjBL) are needed, which can improve student understanding through active involvement, collaboration, and creativity (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2019; Widoyoko, 2020).

Thus, the Project-Based Learning model can be a solution to overcome this problem. Project-Based Learning provides opportunities for students to learn actively, creatively, and contextually. Through this model, students can be involved in learning projects that encourage them to understand and implement the attributes of Allah, such as Al-‘Alim (All-Knowing), Al-Khabir (All-Knowing), As-Sami’ (All-Hearing), and Al-Bashir (All-Seeing) in daily life. For example, students may be asked to create products in the form of creative media, such as calligraphy, posters, videos, or interactive presentations that explain the meaning and examples of the implementation of these properties (Sari, Siska, & Hermawangsa, 2023).

The Project-Based Learning model is also in line with the demands of the Independent Curriculum which emphasizes the development of student competencies, both from cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2019). Through the project, students not only understand concepts theoretically, but also practice critical thinking, cooperation, communication, and creativity skills (Sugiyono, 2013; Mesterjon, 2021). Thus, the application of the Project-Based Learning model is expected to be able to increase students’ understanding of Asmaul Husna, especially Al-‘Alim, Al-Khabir, As-Sami’, and Al-Bashir, as well as instill noble moral values that can be applied in daily life (Syafi’i et al., 2021).

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of the project-based learning model in improving students’ understanding of Asmaul Husna and identifying its impact on the appreciation of Islamic values in students’ lives.

To overcome the above problems, the author proposes to use a project-based learning model. Project-Based Learning (PjBL) is a student-centered learning model, in which they learn by actively engaging in in-depth investigation of a topic through projects (Arends, 2012; Trianto, 2010). This model emphasizes the process of exploration, collaboration, and creation of meaningful products based on real problems or challenges relevant to students’ lives.

This learning model is suitable for creating meaningful learning experiences, especially when combined with a value-based approach or the context of students’ daily lives. From this background, the problems in this study are formulated as follows: “How to apply the Project-Based Learning model in increasing students’ understanding of Asmaul Husna material (Al-‘Alim, Al-Khabir, As-Sami’, and Al-Bashir) in grade VII students of SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City?”.]

METHOD

The subject of this class action research is grade VII students of SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City in the first semester of the 2024/2025 Academic Year as many as 12 students, consisting of all male students. Research Time, This class action research is divided into two cycles, starting with pre-cycle, cycle I and cycle II, for 1 month and 3 weeks. In the pre-cycle which will be held on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, cycle I will be held on Friday, December 13, 2024, while cycle II will be held on Tuesday, December 23, 2024. The place for this classroom action research was carried out at SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City in the first semester of the 2024/2025 Academic Year in the subject of Islamic Religious Education (PAI). Implementation Steps, The initial steps in the preparation of Classroom Action Research (PTK) have four stages, namely planning, acting, observation, and reflection. The flow of PTK implementation of the Kemmis and Taggart Model (Trianto, 2011)

The action research design that will be carried out in each cycle consists of:

Planning: This stage involves identifying specific learning problems, which are formulated based on teacher experience, student learning evaluation results, or peer input (Arends, 2012; Kemmis & McTaggart, 2023). After the problem is identified, the teacher designs an action plan that includes learning strategies, material development, the preparation of learning tools such as Learning Implementation Plans (RPP), as well as evaluation instruments used to measure the success of the action. Careful planning is very important to ensure that the actions taken are relevant and can be implemented properly (Sanjaya, 2016).

Implementation of Action: At this stage, the plan that has been prepared is applied in the learning process. Teachers use strategies and methods that have been designed to address previously identified problems. The implementation of actions is carried out in a classroom atmosphere that supports the active involvement of students (Trianto, 2010; Mulyasa, 2014). For example, if the problem is low student participation, teachers can apply interactive and project-based learning approaches such as Project-Based Learning (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2019).

Observation: During the implementation of actions, teachers or collaborators make observations on student activities, learning interactions, and the effectiveness of the strategies implemented (Sugiyono, 2019). The data collected at this stage includes the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects of students, as well as their responses to learning methods (Widoyoko, 2020). The instruments used can be observation sheets, field notes, video recordings, or interviews. The purpose of observation is to get an objective picture of the impact of the actions taken.

III.  RESULTS

Based on the results of the formative test of pre-cycle learning for 12 students, results were obtained far from expectations, because there are still many students whose results are still below KKTP. The completeness that students must achieve is 80. The results of the pre-cycle formative test can be seen from Table 1.

Table 1. Pre-Cycle Student Learning Outcome Data

Table 1 shows that the highest score obtained by students is 90 and the lowest score is 50. The average score achieved was 72.5. The data on the learning outcomes of pre-cycle students can be described graphically as follows:

(See in PDF File)

Figure 1. Diagram of the Completeness of Pre-Cycle Student Learning Outcomes

From the diagram above, it can be seen that there are 5 students who have completed the program with a percentage of 41.7% and 7 students who have not completed the program with a percentage of 58.3%. The incompleteness of students in these learning outcomes is students who are less active in paying attention to the lessons given by the teacher. Thus, in order to foster enthusiasm and focus students in understanding Islamic Religious Education material, it is necessary to improve learning by implementing project-based learning. The learning improvement is carried out through classroom action research in two stages. Cycle I and cycle II learning.

Learning outcomes of Cycle I

After learning in cycle I, the following are the learning outcomes of PAI students in cycle I with the application of project-based learning.

Table 2. Data on Student Learning Outcomes Cycle I

Cycle I Student Learning Outcomes Completeness Diagram From the diagram above, it can be seen that of the 12 students who have completed as many as 7 students with a percentage of 58.3% and students who have not completed as many as 5 students with a percentage of 41.7%.

Student Learning Outcomes of Cycle II

After carrying out learning in cycle II, the following are the learning outcomes of PAI students in cycle II with the implementation of project-based learning.

Table 3. Data on Student Learning Outcomes Cycle II

The table above shows that the highest score obtained by students is 100 while the lowest score is 60. The average score achieved by students was 84.5. The learning outcome data of the second cycle of students can be illustrated in the following diagram

(See in PDF File)

Figure 2. Diagram of Student Learning Outcomes Cycle II

From the diagram above, it can be seen that there are 10 students who have completed the program with a percentage of 83% completeness and 1 student who has not completed the program with a percentage of 17%.

Observation

Based on the results of data collection analysis, learning outcome data was obtained. The recapitulation of student learning outcomes per cycle through the implementation of project-based learning can be seen from the following table:

Table 4. Recapitulation of Student Learning Outcomes

(See in PDF File)

Figure 3. Comparison Diagram of Pre-Cycle, Cycle I and Cycle II 

From the comparison above, it can be seen that in the pre-cycle there are 5 students who have completed the program with a percentage of 41.7% and 7 students who have not completed it with a percentage of 58.3%, in the first cycle there are 7 students with a percentage of 58.3% and 5 students who have not completed it with a percentage of 41.7%, and in the second cycle there are 10 students with a percentage of 83% and 2 students who have not completed it with a percentage of 17%.

From the research and discussion, it is explained that the implementation of project-based learning can improve student PAI learning outcomes. The results of the learning evaluation showed an increase in pre-cycle, the percentage of student learning completeness was 41.7%, in the first cycle it increased by 58.3% and in the second cycle it became 83%.

The success of improving understanding can be seen from the learning outcomes of students in Islamic Religious Education subjects through the implementation of project-based learning in grade VII students of SMPT Iqra’ Bengkulu City determined by several factors. These factors are internal factors and external factors. Internal factors are factors that come from within including, intelligence, interest and motivation that are built by oneself. The difficulty of 2 students whose grades have not been completed is due to low learning motivation factors, so they lack focus in participating in learning. While external factors are factors that come from outside. External factors are dominant in this study adalah conducive learning environment and learning model. This is proven that there is an increase in student learning outcomes after one of the components of the learning environment and learning model is improved. This component is the way of presenting material with the application of project-based learning. The way of presenting material with the application of project-based learning is able to improve student learning outcomes. This is evidenced by the increase in the average results of each cycle. In the pre-cycle, the average score was 72.4 The average score increased in the first cycle to 79.6. Then in cycle II the average score was 84.5. So based on the results of research and observation of cycle I to cycle II, there was a good increase from the beginning of learning at the time of the implementation of project-based learning in Islamic Religious Education subjects, in the implementation of cycle II results with better results compared to the results of cycle I, thereby showing an increase in student understanding in learning so as to meet the average results of student learning achievement scores according to the indicators of student success that Reached.

DISCUSSION

Reflection is the stage of analysis and evaluation of the results obtained from the actions that have been taken. Teachers assess whether the actions taken succeed in overcoming the problem or need improvement (Arikunto, 2009). If the results are not satisfactory, a new cycle is designed and implemented by correcting the weaknesses in the previous cycle. Reflection also helps teachers to understand the learning process more deeply, so that they can develop more effective strategies in the future (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2023).

One of the advantages of PTK is its ability to produce direct and applicative improvements, so that it has a positive impact on learning. In addition, PTK also encourages the development of teachers’ professionalism, because through the reflection process, teachers can continue to learn and improve their skills in teaching (Arends, 2012; Mulyasa, 2014). Thus, PTK not only contributes to improving student learning outcomes, but also to the growth of teachers’ competencies as educators.

Test The test is used to measure student learning outcomes on the cognitive aspect. The test is carried out at the end of each cycle to determine the improvement of students’ understanding of the material (Arikunto, 2009). The test instrument is designed to evaluate students’ in-depth understanding of concepts related to the material that has been taught.

Observation According to Margono (2004), observation is “the systematic observation and recording of symptoms that appear in the object of research.” Observation is used as a specific data collection technique compared to interviews, as it directly records interactions and behaviors that occur in real contexts.

Observations are made during the learning process to observe student involvement and effectiveness of the implementation of the project-based learning model (PjBL). The data obtained through observation complements the quantitative data collected, such as learning outcomes, with observation sheet notes that record aspects such as student participation, communication between students, and student interaction with teachers.

Interviews Interviews are conducted with students to obtain data on their learning experiences during the implementation of the project-based learning model (PjBL) (Sugiyono, 2019). This technique allows for the collection of in-depth qualitative data, such as students’ perceptions of learning methods, the challenges they face, and the impact of learning models on their learning motivation.

The application of project-based learning that is specialized in the subject matter of Asmaul Husna was chosen as a problem-solving strategy designed to provide meaningful and real learning experiences to students. This strategy aims to help students understand new information with an approach that suits their background, abilities, interests, and learning profile. The project-based learning process allows students to obtain content, process and build ideas, and develop relevant learning products and assessment measures (Arends, 2012; Mulyasa, 2014).

The subject matter of Asmaul Husna (Al-‘Alim, Al-Khabir, As-Sami’, and Al-Bashir) is applied using an approach that motivates students to be actively involved in learning. This learning also adjusts the level of student readiness (readiness) and takes into account students’ interests and learning profiles, as suggested in the Independent Curriculum Implementation Guide (Ministry of Education and Culture, 2019).

The project-based approach encourages students to experience contextual and solution-oriented learning, in accordance with the theory of constructivism applied in learning strategies (Trianto, 2010; Sanjaya, 2016). Thus, students not only acquire cognitive knowledge but also develop critical thinking and collaboration skills.

The project-based learning process is also designed to help students who have difficulty understanding the concept of Asmaul Husna to be more motivated and get better learning outcomes. By focusing on the meaning of learning, this method is also in line with a differentiated educational approach that allows all students to learn effectively in heterogeneous classroom communities (Kemmis & McTaggart, 2023).

In the elaboration of the research results, that in the pre-cycle, student activities did not seem clear, with minimal student involvement in the learning process. In the first cycle, although some students have begun to be active in observing slides and videos delivered by teachers through LCD and projectors, the activities carried out by students are limited to observation and have not yet produced concrete products. Some students have shown Asmaul Husna’s exemplary behavior, but the learning product has not been seen at this stage.

In contrast to cycle II, where in addition to observing slides and videos, students also began to demonstrate Asmaul Husna’s exemplary behavior. In this cycle, students work in groups to produce observable products as a result of group discussions conducted during learning. This shows an increase in student engagement in project-based learning.

The advantage of each cycle is that the author starts the teaching and learning process by showing interesting slides and videos, which are able to stimulate students’ interest in engaging in learning.

The disadvantage of cycle I is the inefficient use of time, where too much time is spent on showing slides and videos, without any products produced by students. In addition, in the demonstration of Asmaul Husna’s exemplary behavior, the teacher only directs students to do it individually, so that no collaboration is built between students.

The improvement in cycle II was obvious, where the teacher directed students to demonstrate Asmaul Husna’s exemplary behavior in groups. This not only strengthens students’ understanding, but also allows them to work together and produce products together, which is a tangible proof of applied learning.

This improvement in the quality of learning shows the importance of changing the approach in each cycle so that project-based learning can be more effective, as suggested by (Arends 2012) who emphasizes the importance of student involvement in real learning experiences that can support the achievement of better competencies. Then, (Kemmis & McTaggart 2023) in classroom action research also stated that student involvement in the cycle of continuous reflection and improvement can improve learning outcomes. In addition, the Independent Curriculum regulated by the Ministry of Education and Culture (2019) emphasizes more project-based learning to increase students’ active participation in contextual and collaborative learning. (Sanjaya 2016) also suggested that teachers design learning with a more flexible approach, such as in cycle II, so that students can work together in groups to produce concrete products. Thus, learning does not only focus on individual outcomes, but also on cooperation and strengthening students’ social competence.

(Mulyasa 2014) added that changes in learning approaches can increase effectiveness in achieving learning goals, especially when learning prioritizes interaction between students and collaboration in completing tasks or projects. This improvement is also in line with the thinking (Sugiyono 2019) about the importance of evaluation of each learning cycle to ensure that each improvement step can be applied more effectively in the next cycle.

CONCLUSION

Based on the results of the research and discussion, it can be concluded that the implementation of project-based learning can improve the learning outcomes of Islamic Religious Education in grade VII students in the first semester at SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City for the 2024/2025 Academic Year. The improvement of student understanding can be seen from the improvement of student learning outcomes in the pre-cycle, cycle I and cycle II with the number of grade VII students in the first semester of SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City as many as 12 students with a school determination KKTP of 80. In the pre-cycle activities, the number of students who completed was 5 students (41.7%), while the students who had not completed were 7 students (58.3%), with an average score of 72.5. In the first cycle, there was an increase in the number of students who completed the course, namely 7 students (58.3%) while the students who had not completed the program amounted to 5 students (41.7%) with an average score of 79.6. Then in the second cycle there was a very high increase compared to the previous cycle, namely students who had reached KKTP amounting to 10 students (83%), while students who had not completed amounted to 2 students (17%) with an average score of 84.5

In the implementation of this project-based learning, it can increase student understanding as seen from the student learning outcomes achieved from the KKTP achievement targets that have been set, in the Islamic Religious Education Subject in Grade VII students semester 1 of SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City for the 2024/2025 Academic Year declared successful.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author would like to express his deepest gratitude to all parties who have provided support and contribution to the implementation of this research. Special thanks are extended to SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City, especially grade VII students who are the subjects of the research, as well as teachers and principals who have given permission, support, and cooperation during the research.

The author also thanked his fellow educators and researchers who have provided valuable input regarding the implementation of the Project-Based Learning model. Not to forget, sincere appreciation to the family and all parties who have provided moral and material support so that this research can be completed.

Hopefully, the results of this research can provide benefits for the world of education, especially in increasing students’ understanding of religious values through innovative learning approaches.

VII.  DISCLOSURE

This research was conducted independently without any conflict of interest from any party. All data used in the study, including the results of observations, actions, and evaluations, have been collected and analyzed objectively in accordance with applicable procedures. The authors did not receive financial or material support from external institutions that could influence the results of this study. All decisions related to the planning, implementation, and reporting of the research are entirely the responsibility of the authors. In addition, this research has been carried out by paying attention to research ethics, including respecting the privacy and interests of research subjects, as well as obtaining official permission from the relevant party, namely SMPIT Iqra’ Bengkulu City.The author guarantees that all information conveyed in this research is transparent and can be accounted for.

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