AI-Driven Sociocultural Digital Module — Culturally-Grounded Science Teaching in South Papua

Researchers at Universitas Musamus and the Indonesia University of Education (UPI) developed an AI-driven interactive digital module for middle-school science that embeds Papuan sociocultural and indigenous-knowledge content into topics aligned with the PISA 2025 science framework (matter structure, earth systems, climate change, energy, forces, waves, and radiation absorption). The aim is to make abstract science concepts locally relevant for students in South Papua Province, one of Indonesia's most under-resourced education regions.
In the primary study, published in the International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research (2025), 200 middle-school students and 40 science teachers were split into experimental (AI module) and control (standard curriculum) groups. A mixed-methods design combined ethnographic fieldwork with pre- and post-tests, surveys and focus groups; a paired-sample t-test found a 49.19% improvement in understanding of complex scientific concepts among the experimental group. A companion study in the Journal Evaluation in Education, covering 6 science teachers and 60 students across six junior high schools in Merauke and Boven Digoel regencies, found the module rated 95% efficient by teachers and 95.53% efficient by students.
Both studies come from the same core research team and have not yet been independently replicated by outside researchers; sample sizes are modest and confined to a small number of schools in two regencies, so evidence of learning impact, while statistically significant, does not yet demonstrate impact at provincial or national scale.

Read the full analysis: http://ijlter.org/index.php/ijlter/article/view/12399