Creating Learning Motivation Using Ice Breaking in Thematic Learning Through Virtual Learning in Islamic Elementary School

The transition of the teaching system from face-to-face to virtual learning teaching caused problems such as reducing student learning motivation. Since the learning activity is online, students. This study aims to explain the application of ice-breaking through virtual learning in thematic learning can foster student learning motivation. The research method used is a qualitative approach. Assalam Islamic Elementary School of Batu Malang City is the location of the research. Data was collected from informal interview techniques and documentation. The results showed that the application of ice-breaking and its implementation in thematic material through virtual learning in Assalam Islamic Elementary School foster student learning motivation. After giving the ice-breaking, the teacher could build students’ concentration, and the class is conducive. Virtual thematic learning in Assalam Islamic Elementary School using ice-breaking can create positive vibes on student learning motivation.


A B S T R A C T A R T I C L E I N F O
The transition of the teaching system from face-toface to virtual learning teaching caused problems such as reducing student learning motivation. Since the learning activity is online, students. This study aims to explain the application of icebreaking through virtual learning in thematic learning can foster student learning motivation. The research method used is a qualitative approach. Assalam Islamic Elementary School of Batu Malang City is the location of the research. Data was collected from informal interview techniques and documentation. The results showed that the application of ice-breaking and its implementation in thematic material through virtual learning in Assalam Islamic Elementary School foster student learning motivation. After giving the ice-breaking, the teacher could build students' concentration, and the class is conducive. Virtual thematic learning in Assalam Islamic Elementary School using ice-breaking can create positive vibes on student learning motivation.

INTRODUCTION
The Coronavirus, known as covid-19, reported on March 2020, caused a commotion in society as its impact resulted in death. This virus originated in China, especially in Wuhan. The global spread of covid-19 led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare covid-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Covid-19 also led the Indonesian government to establish large-scale social distancing regulations PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar) aims to reduce the spread of covid-19 in Indonesia. The largescale social distancing provisions influence the system of education. The government stops all face-to-face learning activities and switched to the virtual system (Daniel, 2020).
The pandemic is a challenge to the education culture in Indonesia. Teachers, students, and academic activity must inevitably switch to the virtual system. The transmission of offline to online learning gives a new intellectual type of learning. Teachers and students have an opportunity to introduce and learn about digital teaching systems (Pokhrel and Chhetri, 2021). It has been two years since educators delivered their teaching to students through virtual learning. WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google Meet are the media platforms as media for virtual learning (Almarzooq, Lopes, and Kochar, 2020). Virtual system and their application in learning activities have advantages and disadvantages. The benefit of virtual learning could happen anywhere and anytime. Meanwhile, the obstacle is that the interaction between teachers and students is less than optimal (Marjuni and Harun, 2019).
Sometimes students feel bored during learning because they only see a machine that can show motion pictures and video and produce voice. They sit in front of their laptops or smartphones to pay attention to the lessons (Pujiasih, 2020). The teaching system from face-to-face to virtual teaching causes a decrease in students' learning motivation. Students learning motivation post-pandemic through e-learning decreased with a significance value of p<0.05 (Cahyani, Listiana, and Larasati, 2020). The average student learning motivation before online teaching was 80.8%, and the average student learning motivation after online learning decreased to 64.01%, which means that student learning motivation decreased by 16.07% (Primary, 2021) .
Assalam Islamic Elementary School of Batu is one of the Islamic Elementary Schools that use technology-based or virtual learning during the covid-19 pandemic. They used applications such as WhatsApp, Zoom, and Google Meet. Based on the results of temporary field notes, during the pandemic, the third class of Islamic Elementary School carried out virtual teaching and learning activities. They use WhatsApp and Google Meet platforms as their virtual teaching media. Meanwhile, Google Meet is often used for teaching and learning activities.
With the implementation of the virtual system in learning and teaching activities, of course, not everything will run smoothly according to the teacher's expectations. There must be some obstacles that occur during the learning process. The homeroom teacher of the third class of Assalam Islamic Elementary School in Batu City experienced some constraints during the learning activity. Students have often experienced boredom and are unenthusiastic in learning and participating in class. Students cannot answer the teacher's questions. They also turn off the camera during lessons through Google Meets. These problems indicate that students are not focused when following the material. Finally, the class teacher provides a strategy for implementing ice-breaking in the middle of the learning activity through the virtual classroom.
Ice breaking is an activity that aims to break the ice and create a conducive situation where motivation, enthusiasm, and passion for learning grow again (Fanani, 2018 Examples of ice-breaking such as applause and video playback containing movements. Those ice-breakings aim to relax the muscles and brains of students. Virtual learning could display pictures or activities that attract students' attention to follow the lesson (Salsabila, 2020). Giving ice breaking to students will trigger students to focus and motivate them to learn (William, Prasetyo, Hasan, Fitriyah, and Rekalasdiana, 2022). This research provides two previous studies. First, Pratama, et. al (2021), entitled "Online learning solutions; Ice Breaking Application to Increase Student Motivation". They explained that the application of ice-breaking games n increases student learning motivation. There are differences in learning motivation before and after giving ice-breaking games and the student motivation changes. The indicators show some aspects of motivation to learn are fun, enthusiasm, interest, liveliness, and anxiety, which have increased.
Second, research from Taufiqurrochman and Rana (2021) explained that in online teaching, it is necessary to apply ice-breaking videos to create a learning motivation in class. It also becomes a solution to reducing student learning motivation. This study focuses on making ice-breaking video products for the Arabic Language Study Program. In the icebreaking video design, there are types of ice-breaking such as; applause, singing, language games, and quizzes.
Based on all the previous studies described above, this research aims to identify the implementation of ice breaking in thematic learning through virtual learning at Assalam Islamic Elementary School of Batu Malang to develop learning motivation. The difference between this research and previous research is in the form of research location, type of ice breaking, time of research, and indicators of learning motivation. This study also aims to strengthen previous research so that it can become a new reference for future researchers.

METHODS
This research uses a qualitative approach. The method is a case study that investigates a contemporary phenomenon and is studied comprehensively by answering research questions "why" or "how" in a phenomenon. The researcher can get information and complex data in implementing the case study method. Assalam Islamic Elementary School of Batu, Malang Indonesia, is the location of the research. The research starts from April 27 to May 12, 2022. Informants in this research are the third-class students and homeroom teachers of Assalam Islamic Elementary School Batu City. The profiles of informants are in the following The results of the data were collected using informal interviews and documentation. The data analysis is carried out by reducing the data, presenting the data, drawing conclusions from the data, uses triangulation to show data validity.
The labelling indicators of learning motivation as a form of research guidelines can be seen in Table 2 (Kirana, 2020): 4. An appreciation when learning.
5. Fun activities during class.
6. A conducive learning environment to make students learn comfortably and well.

Improving Learning Motivation using Ice Breaking in Thematic Learning through Virtual Learning in Islamic Elementary School 3.1.1 Preparation for Implementing Ice Breaking in Thematic Learning through Virtual
Learning Before carrying out virtual learning activities, the teacher prepares the lesson plan or Rencana Pelaksanaan Pembelajaran (RPP) as a guide for teaching activities. The teacher also prepared a video and applause for implementing ice-breaking activities through virtual learning. However, the ice-breaking activities are not included in the lesson plan chart because the lesson plan used during virtual learning is only a one-sheet lesson plan. This was expressed by P1, as follows: "Sebelum saya melaksanakan virtual learning, sehari sebelum atau malam harinya saya mempersiapkan RPP, terus juga mempersiapkan satu video dan tepuk tangan untuk ice breaker. Selain itu saya juga harus memperhatikan koneksi internet saya stabil atau tidak, memperhatikan keadaan laptop saya apakah sudah terisi full baterai atau tidak. Dengan begitu saya mengurangi kemungkinan kendala yang akan terjadi kedepannya."(W/P1/28 April 30 April) Before implementing ice breaking in the virtual learning process, the teacher prepared several things, including a lesson plan (RPP) sheet and making lesson plans as a form of guidance in implementing and determining learning objectives. In addition to lesson plans, the teacher prepares ice-breaking activities in the form of applause and a video. Then the teacher also checks the internet connection and the condition of the laptop battery before carrying out teaching and learning activities.
Both virtual and face-to-face learning always depart from post-learning preparation (Astuti, Muslim, and Bramasta, 2020). The implementation of teaching and learning activities requires preparations made by the teacher. It includes various types of planning related to teaching activities, methodologies, teaching materials, and media to shape the learning process to achieve teaching goals (Lazwardi, 2017 ice-breaking through virtual learning, teachers should prepare RPP, types of applause, and ice-breaker videos, checking the internet stability and device during virtual learning. In making a post-pandemic lesson plan (RPP), teachers must comply with the Ministry of Education and Culture Circular Letter No. 19 of 2019. RPP is prepared using three principles; efficiency, effectiveness, and student-centered (Nurrahmawati, 2020). These regulations explain that virtual teaching activities must emphasize the teacher as a teaching facilitator and students as teaching subjects. The lesson plan helped the teacher estimate what obstacles and how much success in teaching and learning will be achieved.
The stage of implementing ice-breaking in thematic learning through virtual learning is carried out at the beginning of teaching activities and in the middle of teaching activities (Amalia, 2020). At the beginning of the virtual teaching activity, the teacher gave ice breaking in the form of applause that aims to make students more motivated to learn (Deswanti, Santosa, and William, 2020). Ice-breaking applause is done three times. If the motivation of the student's learning enthusiasm is still not growing, the teacher will give different ice-breaking applause with other variations (Arta, Japa, and Sudarma, 2020).
In addition to the application of ice-breaking applause, the teacher applies movements and songs ice breaking in the form of children's exercise videos. The teacher called on all students to stand up and follow the movements in the video simultaneously. In other icebreakings, the teacher asks the student to move their body through gymnastic videos can make the muscles relax after participating in virtual teaching activities (Deswanti et al., 2020). The enthusiasm shown by the teacher during the process of implementing icebreaking will indirectly transmit learning motivation to students. The return of motivating students' enthusiasm for learning will create concentration towards the lesson (Febriandari, 2018). The duration of ice breaking is not too long because if it exceeds, it will annoy the learning material duration. Can see an example of an ice breaking image in the Figure 1.

Obstacles in Implementing Ice Breaking in Thematic Learning through Virtual
Learning Teaching Each teaching and learning activity will also never be separated from the presence of obstacles during learning. As in the application of an ice breaker in thematic learning in virtual learning, there are several obstacles experienced by P1, as follows: "Pada saat penerapan ice breaker secara virtual learning yang menjadi kendala hanya berupa sinyal. Jadi kan semua sinyal dari siswa tidak semuanya stabil. Jadi terkadang ada anak-anak yang sedikit tertinggal karena kendala sinyal itu tadi." (W/P1/28 April 2022) Obstacles often occur during virtual learning are the unstable signal conditions for some students. Conditions like this make one of the inhibiting factors for the continuity of virtual learning. In this situation, the student could follow the learning process. The same thing was also conveyed by informants P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6, saying: "Kendala saya ketika mengikuti pelajaran lewat google meet itu karena sinyal rumah jelek. Jadi harus cari lokasi sinyal yang kuat dulu. Selain soal sinyal kendala yang kami alami juga berupa mahalnya harga paket internet. Jadi kadang pas ibuk memutar vidio (videopenerjemah) kalo kuota saya sisa dikit suka nyendat-nyendat." (W/P2,P3,P4,P5, Internet connection and signal stability determine the success of virtual learning. If those are not stable, the learning activity will face an obstacle. Another obstacle is the high price of the internet quota. Students and their parents must spend more money to buy the internet voucher. Poor internet connection is one of the fundamental obstacles in virtual learning activities during the covid-19 pandemic (Fikri et al., 2021) is also supported by (Kurniati et al., 2021) which proved that the main obstacle experienced during virtual learning activities is the unstable internet network of the teacher and student. The location of the student's house is far from the signal tower, poor weather in the environment, and the price of internet quota are problems in virtual learning. When learning happens, sometimes the participant suddenly experiences a poor internet connection and makes the video on the meeting screen is a delay. It also makes the voice of the participant who speaks in the meeting not clear.
Based on the interview report above, student interest is very enthusiastic at the beginning of implementing virtual learning. Virtual learning is still relatively new among Indonesian educators and students interested in learning virtually. After one year of virtual learning, students experience boredom because virtual learning is fairly monotonous because they only communicate through a screen, so learning motivation decreases. To solve this problem, the teacher uses ice-breaking to develop student learning motivation. The type of ice-breaking that is applied is in the form of applause at the beginning of learning activities and video screenings. During the video playback, the teacher invites students to do the movements based on the video together. The class situation became conducive again after the ice-breaking. The improvement of students' learning motivation shows when the student is ready for the next material. After delivering the material, the teacher asks questions and gives appreciation, such as praise or applause for students. The same thing was also expressed by informants P2, P5, and P6 who stated the following; "Saya sangat senang jika guru saya menampilkan vidio (video-penerjemah)  The statement expressed by P 2, P 5 and P6 above is in line with what has been expressed by P1. After the ice breaking during the learning process, the student's interest and the condition is stable. The type of ice-breaking is in the form of giving videos and applause. The same thing was also expressed by P3, who said the following; "Saya sangat semangat sekali kalo pas lagi waktu belajar tematik gunakan google meet, karena guru saya akan selalu memutarkan vidio baby shark, terkadang senam pinguin, kadang senam pikachu, saya suka sekali. Membuat saya semangat belajar dan tidak bosan mengikuti google meet. Pada saat saya bisa menjawab pertanyaan dari ibu guru, saya selalu diberikan tepuk tangan katanya saya pintar. Saya senang sekali." (W/P3/29 April 2022) Based on the interview above, P3 said that during virtual learning, the teacher always gave ice breaking in the form of children's exercise videos and applause as a form of reward for students who could answer questions from the teacher. Providing ice-breaking can make the classroom atmosphere conducive again and regenerate student learning motivation. The same thing was also stated by P4, as follows; "Semangat belajar saya semakin nambah ketika guru memberikan kegiatan yang menyenangkan, kayak muter video lagu kadang vidio senam, atau kadang ibu juga suka memberikan variasi tepuk. Biasanya tepuk anak sholeh, tepuk semangat juga. Apalagi kalo misal saya bisa jawab pertanyaan ibu guru, pasti saya akan diberikan tepuk tangan sama anak sekelas." (W/P4/29 April 2022) Gymnastics video playback, song, giving rewards, and applause are methods or techniques to develop students learning motivation. Student learning motivation decreased due to the system of virtual learning during the pandemic (Cahyani et al., 2020). The decline in learning motivation after the pandemic has forced teachers to think about ways to create conducive learning and increase students' motivation, so the implementation of icebreaking in virtual teaching is one method to regenerate student learning motivation (Widianti and Suryaman, 2020). In virtual learning, it is also required to display several pictures or activities that make students' attention refocused and ready to receive the lessons (Salsabila, 2020). Ice breaking is one of the activities that can be applied to break the ice in the class. Where motivation, enthusiasm, and passion for learning can grow back after held application of ice-breaking (Fanani, 2018). Ice-breaking activities are applause, movement, song, and video (Artati, 2021). The usefulness of applying the ice breaking is creating students' critical thinking and concentration (Fanani, 2018). There is a different learning motivation between the class that does not use ice breaking and the student that uses ice breaking the implementation of thematic learning through virtual learning.
Ice breaking as a teaching technique can further encourage students to be motivated to learn (Miswati, Faisal, and Fatmawaty, 2021). It is indicated by the fulfillment of indicators of student learning motivation, including; the return of student learning concentration, in the form of ambition and hopes of students to return to success in learning activities. The existence of fun activities aims to break the ice during learning. The teacher also gives an appreciation to students who show enthusiasm during learning activities (Kirana, 2020). Icebreaking can trigger student learning motivation because they consider learning as playing (Ilham and Supriaman, 2021), so the class condition will become more conducive and orderly.

CONCLUSION
The implementation of ice-breaking in thematic learning through post-pandemic virtual learning activity can foster student learning motivation. The analysis shows that this implementation can create some indicators that influence students learning motivation in the aspect of ambition and hope, and teaching activities are fun and not monotonous. The appreciation during teaching has created a conducive environment. According to those indicators, there is an improvement in student motivation to participate in virtual learning. Of course, virtual learning can be succeeded because of the teacher's preparation in lesson plans, videos and applause for ice breaking, and re-checking the condition laptop and the network connection. The obstacles experienced in implementing ice breaking in virtual learning are poor network at student locations and the limits of internet quota. The solution to this problem is that the teacher could record learning activities and upload them on YouTube or Google Drive so that students who are constrained by a network connection can listen and watch the video when they have a stable internet connection. School administration can also cooperate with telecommunications operators through the education office to have discounts for learning internet quota.