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, aiming to make abstract science concepts locally relevant for students in South Papua Province, one of Indonesia's most under-resourced education regions.

The module covers PISA-aligned topics — matter structure, earth systems, climate change, energy, forces, waves and radiation absorption — while grounding them in local Papuan sociocultural and indigenous knowledge to improve conceptual understanding among middle-school students.

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, using a mixed-methods design combining ethnographic fieldwork with pre- and post-tests, surveys and focus groups; a companion study in the Journal Evaluation in Education covered 6 science teachers and 60 students across six junior high schools in the Merauke and Boven Digoel regencies.

A paired-sample t-test found a 49.19% improvement in understanding of complex scientific concepts among the experimental group, and the companion study 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, and sample sizes are modest and confined to a small number of schools in two regencies, so the statistically significant evidence of learning impact does not yet demonstrate impact at provincial or national scale.