Design Thinking-Based Development of G-WAY (GeoGebra and Wayground) Learning Media in Kudus Local Cultural Context

Critical thinking and mathematical multi-representation abilities among junior high school students in Kudus Regency, Indonesia, remain low to moderate, while earlier ethnomathematics-based media developed for this context relied on outdated technology and a largely linear design process with limited attention to user empathy. This design-and-development study integrates Design Thinking into the ADDIE framework—the main contribution of this research, enabling a design grounded in empirically documented user needs rather than curricular assumptions—to build G-WAY, a learning medium combining GeoGebra and the Wayground gamified-quiz platform, contextualized in the ethnomathematics of Menara Kudus. Only the first four Design Thinking stages (Empathize, Define, Ideate, and Prototype) are reported here; the Test stage, functional product development, and effectiveness evaluation lie outside this article's scope. Data came from a needs survey of 77 students from two schools, a survey of eight mathematics teachers from seven schools, and a silent-brainstorming session with 35 students. Empathize findings showed that 80.5% of students struggle with formulas, 68.8% of students identified abstract concepts and formulas as the factor most reducing their interest in mathematics, 44.2% were not used to giving reasons for their answers, and 37.7% found it difficult to turn a word problem into a picture or sketch, while 87.5% of teachers cited abstract concepts as the main obstacle and 62.5% reported that students use only the one representation taught by the teacher. These findings shaped the problem statements. Ideate-stage brainstorming yielded forty-two raw ideas narrowed to five priorities, elaborated at the Prototype stage into a prototype design with five components: a Problem-Based Learning syntax with a Menara Kudus problem orientation, GeoGebra visualization, a Wayground formative quiz, a Student Worksheet (LKPD) that supports multiple representations, and contextual problems based on Menara Kudus architecture. The prototype remains a design, not a functional product, pending expert validation and classroom trials. Each component traces back to empirical user data, positioning G-WAY as a culturally grounded, empathy-driven alternative to prior, technologically outdated ethnomathematics media, though its effectiveness still requires empirical testing at later stages.