Field Study to Bogor Botanical Garden: “Exploring Nature with Science Education”

Grade XI Science at the Bogor Botanical Garden

One of the most anticipated program for the eleventh grade on the second semester is Field Study. With this program, students can get this one full day to study outside the school, where they can learn what had been taught in the classroom and see by them self in the nature. Sure, we are talking about nature, because these are the Science major students in senior high school.

Last Tuesday (13/3), the students visited Bogor Botanical Garden, in Bogor city, not very far from our school in Bekasi. We hit the road on 07.15 AM and arrived at the biggest research garden in the country on 08.30 AM. We are very lucky, considering the traffic was smooth enough with no traffic jam.

The purpose of this field trip, as well as the theme, is “Exploring Nature with Science Education.” In Bogor Botanical Garden, we don’t only see amazing view, such as beautiful flowers and trees, but we can also learn the application of some school subjects, like Biology, Physics, and even Mathematics! So, while visiting three objects in Bogor Botanical Garden, the students also had to find the relations with those science subjects.

The Giant Blue Whale

Our first stop was the Zoological Museum. It was an old Museum, opened since the Dutch colony, around 1890s. The museum collected many replica and real (dead) animals in Indonesia from time to time. We can see a giant marlin fish that was found in North Jakarta Bay on 1933. Nowadays, we even rarely see fish in the water so dark and sadly, full of garbage.

One of the student was amazed by the bones of a giant blue whale that was exhibited in the back of the museum. I was also amazed, not by the giant whale, but by the fact why the boy was so amazed, because I found these things are very common in a museum. It turned out that the boy rarely visits museum and this was his first time visiting Zoological Museum. Wow, this field study really could open ones mind and experience out of expectation!

In the Zoological Museum, students filled their worksheet which we gave them earlier and found the answers by exploring the museum and interviewing the guide. They also made a video report for English project.

Students Enjoying the Atmosphere of the Ecodome

Our next stop was the Ecodome. It was a new building in the Bogor Botanical Garden. The Dutch Government gave it to our government last year, to enrich the collection in the garden. The building was very unique with a half round shape and a roof full of plants. Inside the building, there were tables made by woods with tree shapes. The atmosphere was very comfortable, so the students can continue exploring and fill their worksheet there. The Physics worksheet contains some questions about the shape and function of Ecodome.

Our last stop was the Herbarium. It was like a laboratory, with many samples of plants. The students wrote down each specimen they could find and explored the real plants outside the Herbarium. It was also a very clean and sterilized place, so we have to take off our shoes there. We went to the Orchidium garden next by the Herbarium after that to see some beautiful orchid blooms.

Before we go back to school, we had a picnic by the lake. We ate our lunch by sitting on the grass just beside the lake with a beautiful fountain. How rare do we have a picnic in a green scenery outdoor nowadays? I bet (almost) never! The students seemed to enjoy it and some of them run around the field full of grass. They say it was a sprint competition. But I guess they were just enjoying the place and the moment.

Beautiful Flowers at the Bogor Botanical Garden

So this was a perfect chance to enjoy nature while we’re on it. Enjoy and exploring it with science education, just like our purpose at the first place.