USE OF WORD SQUARE LEARNING MEDIA IN LEARNING THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC CULTURE AT MADRASAH IBTIDAIYAH

ABSTRACT

Islamic teachings stipulate that education is an activity that is obligatory for men and women, and education is an activity that lasts a lifetime ( life long education ).As time goes by, the learning process is not only delivered through the lecture method.Which mostly makes students bored, if learning is delivered using conventional methods.So, teachers must be able to create an interesting learning environment in order to arouse interest in learning in students.One way to increase students' interest, especially in the SKI learning process, is to use the Word Square learning media.The study in this research uses literature review by studying and reading literature related to the research object.The research results show that in its application the Word Square learning media combines the ability to answer questions by matching answers to boxes that are similar to crossword puzzles, so that this can create an interesting and effective learning process.

INTRODUCTION
Education plays an important role in creating quality human resources that are able to keep up with current developments.In the Islamic religious view, education plays an important role in giving color to a person's life journey.Therefore, Islamic teachings stipulate that education is an activity that is obligatory for men and women, and education is an activity that lasts a lifetime ( life long education ).As we know, in the current era technology is developing very rapidly.This is also very influential in the field of education, so that to optimize an educational process, effective learning is very necessary in forming character and providing experience to students.To create an effective learning process, an educator must create an interesting learning atmosphere, so that it can arouse interest in learning in students.
Learning activities are basically a communication process that occurs between teachers and students, and an interesting learning process cannot be separated from the use of learning media.The use of learning media plays an important role and also becomes an intermediary to help teachers maximize the material delivered to students.Learning media also helps teachers to clarify what the teacher cannot convey through certain sentences.In this way, it will be easier for students to understand the material being taught with the help of learning media (Syaiful Bahri Djamarah, 2013).
The Islamic Cultural History (SKI) subject at the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) level aims to increase students' motivation in understanding and recognizing the history of Islamic culture, as well as instilling positive values to shape attitudes, character and personality.Unfortunately, some students consider SKI boring because the learning method is monotonous, only uses lectures, and minimal use of supporting learning media.Indonesia has entered the era of revolution 4.0, which is marked by technological developments, especially communication and internet technology.This digital era has also brought changes in learning approaches.Islamic religious education is now shifting from a "central teacher" model to a "facilitator" for students, with a student-centered approach.Apart from this paradigm problem, Islamic religious education also faces several other problems, such as the lack of improving the quality of human resources in education, the use of classical learning media, the lack of integrated technological developments, and so on.Currently, the use of learning media is mainly oriented towards watching, so updates are needed by mixing other media so that students of science do not feel limited in their development.
One way that is expected to improve learning achievement is by using the Word Square learning media.Word Square learning media combines the ability to answer questions by matching answers to boxes that are similar to crossword puzzles.The use of Word Square media in Islamic Cultural History subjects is expected to be more effective and successful than expository or lecture methods, especially for students who have low memory because of the large amount of material that must be studied at school.In this research, the author will try to dig deeper into the use of the Word Square learning media in the Islamic Cultural History subject at the Ibtidaiyah madrasah.

RESEARCH METHODE
The method applied by the author in this research is library study.This method involves techniques for collecting data through scrutinizing various books, literature, notes and reports that are relevant to the problem to be solved.Literature study means conducting research by studying and reading literature related to the research object.The steps in library research are: 1. Selection of research topic 2. Explore existing information 3. Design a more specific research focus 4. Search for data sources from relevant literature 5. Preparation for presenting data 6.Preparation of research results reports.By using this literature study method, the research focuses on literature analysis to gain an in-depth understanding of the problem being researched.

RESULT AND ANALYSIS
Media, which is a means of liaison or intermediary, comes from the Latin "medius" which means middle or introduction.In the context of communication and learning, media includes various forms and channels used to convey messages or information from sender to recipient.Thus, media can be considered as a tool that functions to convey messages from the sender to the recipient.Learning media is one of the tools used by educators to achieve effectiveness in learning activities.Media in this case is anything that can be used to convey messages from the sender to the recipient so that it can stimulate students' thoughts, feelings, attention and interest in the learning process.This media includes all physical tools used to present messages and stimulate students to learn well.A learning model is a plan or design that describes a process and creates a learning environment that allows teachers and students to interact in a learning process so that changes or developments occur in students.In learning, learning media is certainly needed to help the learning process continue.One of the learning media that can be applied by teachers is the word square learning media, which in this learning focuses on student activity.The Word Square learning model refers to a cooperative approach and is a development of the conventional learning model, namely the lecture method, which in its application is supplemented with games that can attract students' interest, so that students can play an active role in the learning process.
In a cooperative approach, students are grouped into groups with different levels of ability, race, culture, ethnicity, and pay attention to gender equality.The aim of the cooperative learning model is to encourage cooperation in solving problems and applying knowledge and skills in achieving learning goals.By using the Word square learning  247 media, students are invited to creatively search for certain answers or concept pairs by shading the letters in the box according to the correct answer.Although similar to completing a crossword puzzle, the difference lies in disguising the answer by adding additional boxes containing arbitrary letters or numbers to deceive students.Word square is one of the many learning media that can be used by teachers to achieve learning goals.In its application, teachers can provide activity sheets or worksheets as a tool to measure students' level of understanding of the subject matter that has been taught.
Learning the History of Islamic Culture (SKI) is one of the PAI subjects taught at the Madrasah Ibtidaiyah (MI) level.SKI learning includes Islamic history, the origins of Islamic civilization, and the role of Islamic culture in the development of the times.This learning focuses on events that have occurred in the past which are linked to phenomena that occur in the present, so that the lessons learned can be used as examples in living everyday life.
However, many students find SKI subjects less interesting, so they feel bored with the learning methods used by teachers.Because of this, teachers must be able to create a pleasant learning atmosphere so that students do not get bored while studying.Teachers can use the Word Square learning model to attract students' interest in learning.And when applying this media, teachers must prepare activity sheets or worksheets as a tool to measure students' level of understanding of the material they have studied.The main instrument is an activity or work sheet in the form of questions or sentences that need to be answered in a random arrangement of letters in the column provided.
Since 2018, educators have implemented the Word Square Strategy.At first, this strategy was only carried out using a whiteboard, notebook, and was only applied to individual assignments.However, starting in 2019, this strategy has been further developed by utilizing manila paper, HVS paper, and colored folding paper.Apart from being used for individual tasks, this strategy is also extended to involve group tasks.In its application, the word square learning model is not much different from other learning models.Namely, students are divided into several groups by counting according to attendance or in other ways.The steps in the word square learning model are as follows: 1.The teacher delivers material to students 2. The teacher prepares questions related to the material previously explained in word square form 3. The teacher gives activity sheets to each group 4. The teacher conducts questions and answers related to the assignment that has been given 5.The teacher provides an evaluation of the learning that has been delivered Suci Larasati's research shows an increase in student learning outcomes after implementing Word Square.The use of the Word Square learning strategy has proven to be effective in training students' consistency and accuracy.This was also supported by Brili Herwandannu and Suprayitno, who observed that after implementing Word Square, there was an increase in student learning outcomes.Thus, Word Square can be considered an effective learning method for improving student achievement.

CONCLUSION
As times progress, the anxiety experienced by students in undergoing the learning process, especially in the subject of Islamic Cultural History (SKI), is also added.So teachers play an important role in creating an interesting learning environment so that it can arouse students' interest in learning.One way to increase students' interest in learning, especially in the SKI learning process, is to use the Word Square learning media.Because Word Square combines the ability to answer questions by matching answers to boxes that are similar to a crossword puzzle.The use of Word Square media in Islamic Cultural History subjects is expected to be more effective and successful than expository or lecture methods, especially for students who have low memory because of the large amount of material that must be studied at school.