Development and evaluation of the “Jelajah Jambi” local wisdom-based pop-up book to support early mathematical thinking in children aged 5–6 years

Source abstract

Background: Early mathematical thinking requires concrete, interactive, and culturally meaningful learning experiences that engage young children in classification, comparison, counting, symbolic thinking, and simple problem-solving. However, culturally contextualized learning media incorporating Jambi local wisdom remain limited in the studied early childhood setting. Aims: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the “Jelajah Jambi” local wisdom-based pop-up book to support early mathematical thinking among children aged 5–6 years. Method: A Research and Development approach using the ADDIE model was employed. Needs analysis involved teachers, validation involved three experts, practicality was assessed by six teachers, and field trials involved 25 children divided into small-group (n = 10) and large-group (n = 15) trials. Data were analyzed descriptively using the Shapiro–Wilk test, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, and N-Gain. Results: Needs analysis reached 90%, while content, media, and instrument validation scores were 95.2%, 88%, and 92%, respectively. Practicality reached 99.31%. In the large-group trial, mean scores increased from 37.87 to 59.33 (Z = −3.415, p = .001), with an N-Gain of 0.7114. Conclusion: The developed pop-up book demonstrated strong feasibility, high teacher-rated practicality, and promising preliminary outcomes for supporting cognitive activities associated with early mathematical thinking through culturally contextualized learning.