Improving the Understanding of Man-Ecological Dominant Concept in the Utilization of Hutan Raya Pocut Meurah Intan as Learning Source with Outdoor Study Method

The environmental damage is mostly caused by human beings, such as forest fires, landslides and floods. Human beings should maintain the environment because they are highly dependent upon the environment in meeting the needs of their life. In the area of Aceh Besar, environmental damage, especially in the forest, has been severe due to illegal logging. The research aims to improve students' understanding of humans' roles in maintaining the environment and human domination in contributing to environment damage. The aim will be achieved through understanding of Man-Ecological Dominant Concept in geography instruction using the method of outdoor study to Taman Hutan Raya Pocut Meurah Intan. The research use experimental method at Public Senior High School 1 Lembah Seulawah. The results shows that there is significant difference, namely 0.000 < 0.05, before and after the treatment for the understanding of Man-Ecological Dominant concept, and there is behaviour change in students who use outdoor study method and audio visual media. Students improve their understanding and can develop environmental awareness in utilizing the environment as learning sources. Based on this findings, it is recommended that more the utilization of environment as learning sources is more intensified to see the factual impacts of environmental damage.