Model of Mangrove Ecosystem Utilization as Media and Learning Resources of Environmental Education at Senior High School

Environmental degradation and natural disasters caused by human activity today continue to increase. The main reason is the low environmental awareness. This indicates the failure of environmental education in schools. Rising levels of public education are not able to raise environmental awareness. The main cause is the integration of environmental educational material on the subject matter that is not supported by the media and appropriate learning resources that failed to establish the competence of graduates. UNIMED have vision and strategic plan for the development of science education. Therefore, the development model of environmental education is very relevant with the vision and the strategic plan. UNIMED received a grant of 60 hectares of mangrove areas in the Percut Sei Tuan District, Deli Serdang Regency to be managed and developed its preservation. The mangrove area is very suitable as media and learning resources of environmental education. However, there is no utilization of mangrove ecosystem models such as the media and learning resources for environmental education in schools. The research objective was to develop a model of mangrove ecosystem utilization as media and learning resources of environmental education. The research method is qualitative descriptive involving school partners in improving the learning model. Design of learning model is to integrate the three subjects of senior high school, ie. Geography, Biology, and Economics. They were packaged in the form of themes that are relevant to the preservation of the mangrove ecosystem. The effectiveness of the model is determined from the model's ability to fulfill basic competence achievement subjects on the curriculum 2013 of Senior High School. The research stages include focus group discussion for analysis of curriculum, syllabus, preparation of integration model, and development of learning tools. The results showed that the mangrove ecosystem can be used as media and learning resources for environmental education at the Senior High School. The model is very relevant to integrate the three subjects of Geography, Biology, and Economics. Based on the curriculum 2013 analysis of senior high school, the basic competencies of relevant subjects can be integrated on Grade 10 for Biology subjects and Grade 11 for Geography and Economics Subjects. The results also showed that the model is very efficient to apply. It can meet the achievements of some basic competence in some subjects so it is easier for teachers to mobilize students to the field and minimize costs.