Understanding the Role and Function of Student Development as an Effort to Implement Character Education Values in the Curriculum

Abstract

This article aims to determine the role and function of student development as an implementation of character education values, especially in elementary schools. To make it easier to form, character cultivation must begin to be given to students from an early age. In its implementation, we can use ways of linking learning and approaches where students act as subjects in it. It is necessary to carry out an assessment in every lesson in the classroom or surrounding environment, to be able to see whether the character education implemented is successful or not. Where the teacher is the person most expected in this character education. Therefore, teachers should have adequate experience and knowledge about the values of character education. Education is guidance given by adults to immature children to achieve a goal, namely maturity. Educational efforts concern human conscience, values, feelings, knowledge and skills. Only humans can be educated and receive education because humans are equipped with reason. Student development is a science that studies behavior from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. The theory of student development is divided into several parts, 1) behaviorist theory, namely the process of development through stimulation and response. Stimulus-response means behavior that is controlled by rewards and reinforcement from the environment. 2) cognitive theory, namely the process of development through memory and knowledge. According to Piaget, cognitive development is divided into several stages, namely the sensory stage which starts from the age of 0-2 years and develops through the sensory system (senses). Then in the preoperative stage which starts from the age of 2-7 years the development is through an increasingly active and developing mindset. The third stage is concrete operations starting from the age of 7-11 years, its development is characterized by starting to work using concrete (real) objects. The final stage, namely formal operations, begins at the age of 11 years and above, at this stage teenagers think in a more logical and idealistic way.