Ethnoscience Materials to Build Scientific Literacy

Introduction: Students' scientific literacy skills were often overlooked due to teaching materials that failed to incorporate local cultural context. This study aimed to identify teaching materials currently employed in elementary science education fourth-grade students in 'Sekolah Penggerak' programs in Sukoharjo Regency, Central Java, Indonesia, and assess students' scientific literacy within this context. Methods: The study employed a descriptive qualitative approach with participants including fourth-grade educators and students from elementary schools in the "Sekolah Penggerak" program in a Javanese province, Indonesia. Two schools participated: State Elementary School 02 Duwet and State Elementary School 04 Ngadirejo. Data were obtained through surveys and interviews using purposive sampling techniques. Questionnaires were distributed to students, while interview data were gathered from teachers. Results: The majority of teaching resources were government- or publisher-provided books that lacked cultural relevance and were not designed to improve scientific literacy. Teachers had not created instructional materials that were literacy-focused or culturally appropriate. Scientific literacy levels among students were found to be very low. Conclusions: The findings demonstrated the urgent need to develop ethnoscience-based instructional materials that integrated local culture, technology, and inquiry-based learning methodologies. Such resources would strengthen students' comprehension, increase their scientific literacy, and provide tangible learning experiences that connected scientific concepts to their cultural context.