Constructivist Visual Learning in Social Studies Education: The Role of Pop-Up Book Media in Enhancing Student Motivation and Achievement

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of constructivist visual learning through pop-up book media in enhancing students' learning motivation and academic achievement in Social Studies at the junior high school level. The study was motivated by persistent challenges in Indonesian education, particularly low literacy competence, weak learning motivation, and unsatisfactory Social Studies learning achievement, which are closely associated with conventional teacher-centered instructional practices. Grounded in constructivist learning theory and John Dewey's pragmatist philosophy of experiential learning, this study conceptualizes the pop-up book as a visual-interactive instructional medium that promotes active student engagement and meaningful learning experiences. A quantitative approach employing a pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was adopted. The participants consisted of 32 eighth-grade students from SMP Negeri 32 Semarang, selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected through learning motivation questionnaires, pretest-posttest achievement tests, classroom observations, and documentation. All research instruments were validated and tested for reliability prior to data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a paired-sample t-test, Normalized Gain (N-Gain) analysis, and effect size analysis with IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The findings revealed significant improvements in both students' learning motivation and academic achievement following the implementation of pop-up book-based instruction. The mean motivation score increased from 68.36 to 84.25, while the mean Social Studies achievement score improved from 70.00 to 83.75. The paired-sample t-test yielded a significance value of 0.000 (p < 0.05), indicating a statistically significant effect of the instructional intervention. Furthermore, the N-Gain and effect size analyses demonstrated moderate-to-high improvement with a strong practical effect. These findings indicate that pop-up book media constitute an effective constructivist visual learning strategy for enhancing students' learning motivation, academic achievement, active engagement, and contextual understanding in Social Studies education.