Teachers’ Strategy to Improve Learners’ Comprehension in Islamic Education in Elementary School

This study aims to find out how the strategy is to increase students' understanding in learning Islamic religious education in elementary schools. This study used a qualitative method with a case study approach. The data source was taken through in-depth interviews with ten Islamic religious education teachers in several elementary schools. All data were analyzed thematically with techniques Interactive Analysis Model Miles & Huberman. The research findings found four strategies used by teachers in increasing students' understanding in learning Islamic religious education. The four strategies are i) integrating technology as a learning medium so that students can easily understand the material, ii) conditioning students to study in groups, so that collaboration with fellow students is formed in learning, iii) providing rest periods in learning sessions to overcome learning saturation, iv) varying learning methods such as singing and carrying out games in conveying subject matter. The research findings also found that the four strategies used by the teacher were implemented well and even succeeded in increasing students' understanding in understanding the subject matter. These four strategies can be used as examples for Islamic religious education teachers in various elementary schools in carrying out learning.


INTRODUCTION
Discussions education is an attempt to prepare human resources (human resource) who have the skills and expertise in accordance with the demands of nation-building.Education can be interpreted as a process in a certain way or method so that people acquire knowledge and ways of behaving according to their needs.In these learning activities there are teaching activities carried out by educators and learning carried out by students.These teaching activities aim to change in a positive direction which includes cognitive, affective, and psychomotor behavior of students so as to create quality human resources (Lestari, 2012;Rosidah, 2016;Wati & Trihantoyo, 2020).
According to Daulai, (2021) learning is directed to carry out the duties of the caliphate on earth in a spritual orientation and strong Islamic values as the main task of Educated humans.In this case, it is assumed that the conscience of an educated Muslim really always feels called to play a role towards a better level in accordance with human nature.Education is expected to be able to lead students to achieve happiness in a real form, and return to the true nature of humanity.Education is a conscious effort carried out by families, communities and the government through guidance, learning or training that takes place at school and outside of school.This conscious effort is carried out in the form of learning where there are educators who serve their students in carrying out learning activities, and education assesses or measures the level of learning success of these students with specified procedures.
Islamic religious education is a systematic and pragmatic effort in guiding students who are Muslim in such a way that Islamic teachings can truly animate, become an integral part of themselves (Mardiana et al., 2022;Sultanik et al., 2022).So, Islamic religious education is a business in the form of teaching, guiding and caring for children so that one day after completing their education they can understand, live and practice the Islamic religion, and make it a way of life, both private and societal (Mardani, 2019).
Islamic religious education has an important role in fostering and shaping one's character.One of the goals of Islamic religious education is to form individuals who have noble character so that they can increase their faith and devotion to Allah SWT.To achieve this goal, in teaching educators must use learning methods that are in accordance with student development so that the material presented can be well received so that students are able to apply it in everyday life (Zaman, 2020).Professional teachers are essentially able to convey learning material appropriately according to the learning needs of students.However, to achieve these goals, various exercises, mastery and insight in learning are needed, including using appropriate models, media and learning methods (Bararah, 2017).
The learning method is an activity carried out by educators in such a way that the behavior of students changes for the better.The learning method is a presentation technique that has been mastered by an educator to teach or present learning materials to students in the classroom so that lessons can be absorbed, understood and utilized by students properly.If educators can apply appropriate learning methods to students, the learning objectives can be achieved (Anggraeni et al., 2019).
Learning and teaching are interactive activities between educators and students with educative value.This teaching and learning activity is carried out to achieve certain goals that have been formulated before learning is carried out.An educator plays an important role in increasing students' interest and learning motivation, therefore educators must have teaching strategies and methods that can make students interested in the learning they receive, such as: using a variety of learning media (Suhirman, 2018).The use of various teaching media can increase the enthusiasm of students in learning.If in the learning process only use the lecture method the students will feel bored because they just sit quietly and listen to the teacher's explanation of a problem.Such learning activities must be diverted by educators with other learning situations (Bistari, 2018).
In the world of education, of course, you are familiar with learning media, learning media is a channel or bridge for learning messages conveyed by educators to students (Nugraheni, 2017).The application of media in learning must also be in line with existing learning objectives.Therefore, learning objectives must be a reference for educators to use teaching media so that they are in line with learning objectives.Media as a tool or intermediary for educators to channel learning so that students are more familiar with the learning material presented by educators.In the implementation of education, the media used in learning continues to develop along with the development of science and technology, education can be carried out through any media, both mass media and electronic media.With the rapid development of technology at this time educators often use electronic media in carrying out the learning process, such as using infocus to display a learning video, learning material in the form ofpower point also accompanied by gamesgame that makes students happy and comfortable in learning (Jamun, 2018;Suryadi, 2019).
Learning methods like this are very good to be applied to every lesson, especially in learning Islamic religious education.With this method, students' understanding of Islamic religious education learning will increase.Because as is known most of the students are lazy and bored when studying Islamic religious education subjects.Therefore, educators must strive to increase students' motivation and interest in learning, especially in learning Islamic religious education so that students can understand Islam well, starting from the basics to advanced lessons that are even more difficult (Putri et al., 2022).Islamic religious education basically aims to deliver and form whole human beings who believe in and fear Allah SWT and form intelligent, virtuous, responsible people towards themselves and society in order to achieve the world and the hereafter (Imelda, 2018).
As the author has stated in the background section of this article that, in the learning process an educator must make every effort to be able to attract the attention of students in learning.One effort that can be done by educators is to use learning methods or media that are appropriate and easy for students to understand and interact with more discussions or questions and answers so that students are more active in class.Question and answer activities can generate curiosity so as to arouse students' interest and attention to a problem being discussed (Sukriyatun, 2016).Interest is a driving force for someone to do what they want if they want to achieve the expected goals.In order to achieve interest in learning, educators must use effective and efficient learning resources.Learning resources as one of the components or elements of learning that play an important role in the implementation of interesting and meaningful learning activities (Buchari, 2018).All strategies and methods used by educators in learning are a form of educator efforts to increase students' understanding in learning.
Research related to the issue of the efforts of Islamic religious education teachers in increasing students' understanding in learning has been widely studied by previous researchers such as (Sukriyatun, 2016;Suhirman, 2018;Ahsanulkhaq, 2019;Jafri, 2021;Laily, 2021).The researchers above are more likely to discuss the formation of the character of students in accordance with Islamic law and spiritual intelligence and interspersed with methods, sources and media as educators' efforts to increase students' understanding.However, this research issue only focuses on the teacher's efforts to improve students' understanding in learning Islamic Religious Education.

METHODS
This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach.According to Taylor, (2013); Bartlett & Vavrus, (2016) ;Gustafsson, (2017) ;Martell, (2017); Crowe et al., (2022) case study is a type of research when the researcher wants to observe in depth a phenomenon or event both individually and in community groups.This method can be used when researchers want to see and explore the results of a program or activity that has been implemented.Referring to the opinions above related to the issues raised by the authors in this study, this type of research is appropriate to use.The data source was taken from an informant through in-depth interviews, while the selected informants met four criteria, namely understanding well the problem being studied, being active in the field being researched, having time to provide information to researchers, and providing information according to facts.What happens in the field (Ashidiqi et al., 2019;Engkizar et al., 2018;Rahman et al., 2019;Ramli et al., 2017).To meet the criteria of an informant, the informant asked was an active Islamic religious education teacher who was teaching at the Sungai Jernih 09 Elementary School.
After the interview was completed, it was taken to the informant, a transcript process was carried out, then the writer took themes that were in accordance with the research needs.According to Clarke & Braun, (2018); Terry et al., (2017) thematic analysis is one of the analytical techniques that can be used by researchers in analyzing the results of interviews so that they can be seen clearly and easily understood by readers.This analysis process is carried out by the writer using Miles & Huberman's qualitative analysis.According to Sultanik et al., (2022) Miles & Huberman's analysis technique consists of three stages, namely data reduction, data presentation, and conclusion verification.Data reduction is defined as removing things that are considered unnecessary in research.Presentation of data is as a collection of structured information that gives the possibility of drawing conclusions and taking action.Drawing conclusions presented are the results of research that has been verified before.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Research related to the issue of problems regarding teacher efforts to improve students' understanding in learning has been widely studied by previous researchers.However, this research will examine various ways or efforts of Islamic religious education teachers in conveying learning that is easy for students to understand.
Based on the results of interviews and observations made with informants, there are several results of the analysis of the efforts of Islamic religious education teachers in increasing students' understanding in learning, as follows:

Fig 1. Teacher's strategy in learning
Furthermore, so that the results of the research and discussion in this article are more interesting to read and easy to understand, the author will display excerpts from short interviews with informants based on one main theme which is divided into four efforts that have been obtained.The description of the interview that the author displays is a brief statement excerpt from the informant when the interview was conducted.The interview excerpt, even though the informant conveyed in a slightly different language, actually has the same purpose and intent.
First integrating technology as a learning medium so that students can easily understand the material, can be seen in the interview excerpts below: ...to find out how far my students' learning progress is, I often provide exercises and quizzes with the help of laptops and infocus related to learning materials explained, as well as observing their participation in learning (I-1)....I use the lecture method, so that students' interest and understanding increase, I present learning using IT.For example using powerpoint and video animation (I-2) Second conditioning students to study in groups, in order to form cooperation among students in learning, as explained by the informant in the following interview excerpt: ...in the learning process I prefer to divide students into several small groups so that students can discuss with their peers regarding subject matter (I-3)....studying in groups is one of the ways or methods that I use in teaching so that students can work together and discuss each other in the learning process (I-4)....before starting learning I always divide students into several groups to practice collaboration and learn to convey ideas and opinions related to the material being studied (I-5)....to broaden students' insights and make students more active in learning, I divide students into several groups to discuss with each other (I-6) Third providing rest time in learning sessions to overcome learning boredom, as stated by the informant in the following interview excerpt: ...in the learning process, I usually give a short break by doing reflection so that it can restore students' enthusiasm for learning (I-7)....to overcome boredom in learning I give a break of 5 minutes in the middle of the learning session (I-8) Fourth varying learning methods such as singing and carrying out games in conveying subject matter, as conveyed by informants in the following interview excerpts: ... in conveying learning material, I do not only focus on one method but provide an interlude with educational games so that students' concentration can still be controlled (I-9)....the method that I use in each meeting is always different and varies according to the material objectives to be achieved (I-10) From the interview excerpts above, it is known that several methods or efforts of teachers in increasing students' understanding of learning.From the several methods above, it can be used as a guide for teachers in presenting and channeling learning to make it easier.As the author has previously mentioned, basically the interest in the level of understanding of students about learning depends on the efforts and encouragement made by educators in the learning process.With encouragement and an educator, students will be motivated to study more actively, because they have found the purpose of learning.Therefore the role of the teacher is very important in helping to develop the potential of a student.
First, technology integration is the use of information and communication technology in content areas in general in education to enable students to learncomputer and technology skills.In general, it is the curriculum that controls the use of technology, not the other way around.This technology and information needs to be integrated and used in various dimensions.As in the field of learning, research, and learning methods.The use of technology in learning has many benefits, namely helping and facilitating educators in distributing teaching materials and making it easier for students to understand learning.Another convenience that students get is being able to capture with various colors, choice of images, sound, video, and more.Things like this can provide comfort for students in receiving learning (Kasmar et al., 2019).
Second, the process of learning group discussion becomes a way of presenting learning material, where students are faced with a problem which can be in the form of a statement or question that is problematic to discuss and solve together (Anggraeni, 2019).According to Sanjaya the discussion method is a strategy to convey learning material that involves students actively discussing and finding alternative solutions to a problematic topic of discussion.This method has many advantages such as: i) helping students think from the point of view of a subject by giving students the freedom to think, ii) helping students evaluate logic and evidence for their own positions or other people's positions, iii) providing an opportunity to students to formulate the application of a principle, iv) help students become aware of a problem and formulate it using information obtained from readings or lectures, v) use materials from other members in the group, and vi) develop motivation for good learning better (Kelirik, 2019).
Third, ice breaking in learning is an activity that contains activities that contain simple and light games that function to break the ice so that it is not stiff so that the atmosphere becomes comfortable which can increase student motivation to take part in further activities.Objectiveice breaking This is so that it can melt the condition of students who are initially bored or tense to become fun.Students can play while learning, without putting aside the core material from both literature and other books (Amalia, 2020).Usageice breaking in learning will be very helpful in creating an educational atmosphere that is meaningful, fun creative, dynamic and dialogical (Zakiyyah et al., 2022).
Fourth, learning while singing is one of the learning methods used by educators so that students can easily remember and memorize learning (Yul & Andrian, 2022).By using the singing method, students will easily remember the material taught by educators and make boring lessons fun.Learning with the singing method and the help of suitable learning media will increase students' interest in learning Islamic religious education (Ali, 2016).

CONCLUSION
Based on the results of the research above, it can be concluded that there are four methods that are applied by teachers in the learning process, especially in learning Islamic Religious Education.The four efforts are technology integration, group discussion learning, ice breaking, learn while playing.Teachers as educators must know the progress of their students in learning every day.Educators must also know what learning methods are needed by students so that students can understand them well and quickly.Using various variations of learning models in the teaching process is an interesting way used by educators to increase students' understanding in learning.A teacher has a very big responsibility in building civilization and educating the nation's children.It is hoped that the results of this study can be used as a reference or the latest issue from a different aspect of the problem used in subsequent research.