Fragmented Integration of Natural and Social Sciences Content in Grade V Textbooks under Indonesia’s Independent Curriculum
Keywords:
structural fragmentation; interdisciplinary integration; IPAS textbook; elementary education; Independent CurriculumAbstract
Structural fragmentation in elementary textbooks can weaken interdisciplinary understanding and limit students’ ability to interpret real-world phenomena holistically. Under Indonesia’s Independent Curriculum, Natural and Social Sciences was introduced to integrate science and social studies, yet little research has examined whether this integration is substantively represented in elementary textbooks. This study investigates how integration is represented in an official Grade V IPAS textbook and how teachers interpret its use in practice. Using a qualitative document-based case study, the research analysed one official Grade V IPAS textbook published in 2021 by Pusat Kurikulum dan Perbukuan and semi-structured interviews with five elementary teachers in Jepara Regency, Indonesia. Data were analysed thematically across three dimensions of fragmentation: content organization, inquiry activities, and assessment tasks. The findings show that integration remains largely administrative rather than conceptual. Science and social studies content is organized in separate chapter sequences, learning objectives, and concluding sections. Inquiry activities mainly direct students toward single-discipline investigation, while assessment tasks evaluate both domains in parallel rather than requiring relational understanding across them. These findings suggest that the formal merger of science and social studies in IPAS has not yet produced conceptually coherent learning materials and highlights the need to strengthen interdisciplinary coherence in content, inquiry, and assessment.
https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.25.4.11
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