PROPOSAl

FOR INDIVIDUAL APPLYING

 Introduction

I am a permanent teaching staff at one of the private universities of the

teaching and education faculty, and also I have been a part-time lecturer at several
private universities in Dili and most recently at the East Timor National University of
the Teaching and Education Faculty
My previous thesis research on the development of guided inquiry-grade 10th
chemical teaching materials and I and my team have succeeded in developing
teaching materials about waste and plastic waste for high school chemical training.
Where, this activity was funded by the Instituto Nacional de Ciências e Tecnologia
(INCT) from the Ministerio do Ensino Superior, Ciências e Cultura (MESCC). All
grants are managed by team personnel allocated for feasibility study activities, expert
validators, practitioner validators, instantiation fees and other administrative costs

Until finally, our team became the best in the research project offered by the
Instituto Nacional de Ciências e Tecnologia (INCT) from Ministerio do Ensino
Superior, Ciências e Cultura (MESCC) For grants from US government agencies
themselves I have never accessed and this is the initial stage for me in applying for
activities in the USA agency

 Problem Statement:

Generaly, in the TIMOR-LESTE Strategic Development Plan 2011-2030, it

has been hinted by the government that the purpose of education is to increase the
scientific literacy ability of students to be responsible in society.
The process of increasing students' scientific literacy is carried out in
educational institutions through teaching and learning process with a scientific
approach (). The scientific approach is a learning approach that often uses the
principles of scientists such as proposing hypotheses, collecting data and concluding.
In the development of the world of science and technology has an impact on
educational paradigms throughout the world such as the learning approach from
teacher centered learning to student centered learning Thus, one of the learning

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models chosen by the government of Timor Leste as a priority in learning activities to
increase the scientific literacy of East Timorese students is science, Technology and
society or STS (Currículo Timor Leste; 2015).
However, in reality the teacher is not familiar with the approach or learning
model adopted so that it is not used in every learning in school even though the
teachers have attended training (Correia et all; 2019). This, shows because of the lack
of reference learning materials that make teachers difficult to understand and apply
learning in accordance with existing demands. These results and statements are also
corroborated by several studies on science learning in Timor Leste that the main
obstacle to learning science in East Timor is the lack of teaching materials (Guterres,
2015). The results of other studies reveal that Portuguese is also an obstacle in
learning science in Timor Leste (Cardoso;2015).
The lack of teaching materials will provide opportunities for teachers and
students to access material sources that are not believed to be of appropriate accuracy
so there is a chance of misconception. As a result, students who experience this
misconception protracted eventually become unprepared or unmotivated and language
is difficult to accept the material delivered or subsequent material, causing failure for
students (Halim et al; 2018).
Chemistry is one of the subjects of the physics and natural sciences group, the
chemical concepts between one another are always related and the basic concepts are
the main prerequisites in learning concepts at a high level.
These concepts can be understood and mastered if they are taught with
approaches and learning models that can guide and guide students to understand with
a resistant understanding. To increase resistant understanding, teaching materials that
are suitable with the conditions of the students, the character of the material and the
condition of the school itself are also needed.
Teaching material is one thing that is very important in any learning. In
chemistry learning, this teaching material is very important in order to make learning
systematic and directed so that learning objectives can be achieved properly.
Another reason that makes me interested in applying for this project is the
urgency of the need for teaching materials other than textbooks is very necessary and
so far science learning books in elementary schools have used the national language
that is the contents of books in Portuguese accompanied by translations in Tetum but,
in high schools The public is not the same book available.

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 Program Goals and Objectives:

The purpose of this program is to develop appropriate STEM-based teaching

materials and practicality based on STEM teaching materials through science
exhibitions.
 Program Activities:
This activity starts from the needs study, the development of STEM-based
practicum modules and science exhibitions. A product needs study was carried out on
a number of schools in Dili by interviewing all chemistry teachers and some students
taken at random. Product development activities will be carried out with the
Thiagarajan 4D approach which, will be designed, validated and revised, involving
expert lecturers and East Timorese chemistry teacher practitioners who have
experience teaching or pursuing a long field of chemistry and called a validator. The
science exhibition will involve all High School students in Dili and government and
international agencies including embassies in Timor Leste.
 Program Methods and Design:
The STEM-based practical book development project will begin with a study
of STEM-based teaching material needs. Where, the subjects were the teachers and
chemistry students at the Public High School in Dili City. Next, appropriate practicum
modules will be developed. The subjects in this stage are field practitioners or
chemistry teachers and lecturers. The next stage is the product trial where the products
that have been developed are tested in exhibition activities and finally the assessment
of teaching materials or practicum modules from the students participating in the
exhibition will be taken randomly as respondents.
Analysis of the needs, feasibility, and readability of teaching materials in the
form of practicum modules will be carried out descriptive qualitative analysis which
will be the basis of dissemination or disseminate stages both in the whole school and
on line.
 Program Monitoring and Evaluation Plan:
The monitoring and evaluation program is one of the important programs in all
activities to direct solutions when facing an obstacle or problem in this activity. The
program also refers to learning from what has been done and how to do it by focusing
on:

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 Efficiency-shows an input (for example, money, time, equipment) of work that
matches the output
Effectiveness-measuring progress of a program or project achieved from the planned
specific objectives.
Impact — shows how to make a distinction to overcome the conditions of the
problems that have been attempted. In other words, it can evaluate the suitability of
the strategy that has been implemented.
Thus, the implementation of monitoring can be done in various ways, adapted
to the existing situation and conditions. Monitoring at the field level can be done by
means of intensive direct discussions with stakeholders involved in the activity, or by
presenting each activity by the beneficiaries at the agreed time.
Meanwhile, the monitoring carried out by the program implementation team
and donors will be carried out by means of presentations and followed by field trips
Another mechanism is to have each individual / officer present a regular report
on the activities carried out to monitor the progress of this project.
 Future Funding or Sustainability:

Recognizing the urgency and importance of the teaching material development project
for chemistry learning, after the project has been undertaken for encoding and
dissemination it can be carried out by the ministry of education, youth and sports for
learning chemistry in Timor Leste