Revitalizing social studies through ethnopedagogy: Making learning active, value-based, and meaningful

Social Studies (IPS) education in Indonesia is often dominated by textbook-centered instruction that fails to engage students or reflect their lived experiences. This study introduces ethnopedagogy as an innovative framework for revitalizing IPS by integrating local wisdom, with river tourism in Banjarmasin as a cultural theme. The study is significant in positioning Social Studies not only as knowledge transmission but also as a medium for cultural preservation, ethical reasoning, and civic responsibility. Its novelty lies in synthesizing literature to conceptualize a structured ethnopedagogical model emphasizing meaningful, value-based, active, and challenging learning. The study aims to develop strategies for embedding ethnopedagogy into junior high school IPS, guided by the hypothesis that culturally responsive pedagogy improves cognitive, ethical, and social outcomes. A structured literature review was conducted, analyzing peer-reviewed journals, academic books, curriculum documents, and research reports, with thematic synthesis applied to identify pedagogical dimensions. Findings indicate that ethnopedagogy enhances curriculum relevance by linking content to local contexts. Value-based and active learning dominated, fostering ethical reasoning, identity, collaboration, and motivation, while integrative learning across disciplines remained difficult. The study offers a scalable framework for policymakers, curriculum developers, and educators, highlighting ethnopedagogy as both a cultural preservation strategy and a pedagogical innovation.