Environment-Based Constructivism Learning to Increase Elementary School Students' Awareness of Social Change

Social and natural science learning in primary schools should enable students to understand social change as a phenomenon closely connected to their daily lives. However, teacher-centered classroom practices often limit students’ ability to relate social concepts to their local environment. This study aims to describe the implementation of environment-based constructivist learning to improve fourth-grade students’ awareness of social change, analyze its success indicators, and identify supporting and inhibiting factors. A descriptive qualitative design was employed involving 20 fourth-grade students at SDN 2 Karang Jati. Data were collected through oral questioning, classroom observation, simple community interviews, documentation, observer notes, and student reflections. Data were analyzed through reduction, display, thematic coding, and conclusion drawing, while trustworthiness was strengthened through technique and source triangulation. The findings indicate that constructivist learning organized through prior knowledge activation, environmental exploration, community interviews, group discussion, presentation, and reflection improved students’ awareness of social change. The improvement was reflected in students’ ability to identify examples of social change, explain its impacts, demonstrate social empathy, and communicate their observations orally and in writing. Supporting factors included teacher readiness, collaborative student activities, and the use of the local environment as a learning resource. The main constraints involved differences in students’ abilities, limited critical reasoning among several students, and restricted instructional time. These findings suggest that constructivist learning is relevant for developing contextual, reflective, and socially oriented IPAS learning in primary education.