Indonesia is archipelago country with a myriad kingdoms, small and big kingdom. Each kingdom has a king who can bring his kingdom into the golden era. Two most prominent kingdoms in Indonesia are Srivijaya and Majapahit. Srivijaya based in Sumatera Island dominated the archipelago from 7 to 11 century. The monumental heritage is Borobudur temple the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The famous king from the Srivijaya Kingdom is Balaputradewa rules in 856 century. He manages to bring Srivijaya to the peak of the dynasty. It was his father Samaratungga who build Borobudur temple.
Majapahit was the most dominant kingdom in Indonesia. Under Hayam Wuruk as a king and Gajah Mada as a prime minister, Majapahit at the peak of the golden era and expanding their territory to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Philipines. It has a formidable navy and sea power. Srivijaya and Majapahit are only a few of glorious kingdom in Indonesia. They have strong and powerful leadership. Because of the strong leadership, they can achieve the golden era of their kingdom. I want my student to learn from Indonesia history before the Dutch colonialism. We have so many kings which are the example of a role model from Indonesia. Hopefully, when I ask the inspiring leader, my student can up to these kings and never forget rich and diverse Indonesian history.
In an effort to force my student to read Indonesia history I ask them to prepare the oral presentation about famous kings from the kingdom they set by themselves. Instead of using the power point for the presentation I ask them to build three-dimensional props to explain the genealogy of king that will represent a province.
Padjadjaran Kingdom from West Java
Majapahit Kingdom, King Hayam Wuruk
Banten Sultanate
Makassar Sultanate, South Sulawesi
Udayana Kingdom, Bali
The result is amazing. Firstly students demonstrate their creativity in the 2D and 3D props and the shapes are so varied. Secondly, they learn about the family tree of the king they select. They also need to provide the argument of the characteristic of their king in term of leadership character the king posses. I can distinguish students who work on this task only to past the assignment and the one with the passion. And I’m sure most of my student do it with enthusiasm.
Lesson learned from this assignment for my student are:
1. Teamwork; as always before you can be a good leader you need to be a good follower
2. Learn from the history; many kings especially from the prehistoric era they don’t have facility or technology like the present but they can make it, they even concur the world.
3. Creativity; I fully realize that every student has their own learning style. Some are auditory, some are visual, some are psycomotorik; they don’t like to read or listening but they enjoy making something. Well, I hope this assignment can facilitate at least the psychomotorik type since most of the course’s activities are in class.