Development of an outdoor learning activity: enhancing social skills with local wisdom content for early childhood
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v70.116917Keywords:
Early childhood education, outdoor learning, social skills development, Kato Nan AmpekAbstract
Introduction and Objective. Early childhood education in Indonesia predominantly focuses on cognitive aspects, neglecting the development of social skills. Traditional classroom-based approaches limit children's opportunities for authentic social interactions and cultural identity formation. This study aims to develop and evaluate an outdoor learning model that integrates the values of the Kato Nan Ampek local wisdom to improve social skills in early childhood education.
Methodology. A Research and Development (R&D) approach was employed using the ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation) model. The study involved 186 children aged 4–6 years from three Early Childhood Education institutions in the city of Padang, along with 12 teachers. Data collection utilized surveys, interviews, and observations, with both quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques.
Results. The developed model demonstrated high validity scores (4.29–4.41), indicating strong content adequacy and design quality. Effectiveness testing revealed a significant improvement of 57.4% in children's social skills, with an N-Gain of 0.58 (moderate effectiveness). The model achieved a practicality rating of 82.5% from teachers, confirming its feasibility for real-world implementation.
Conclusions. The integration of local Kato Nan Ampek wisdom into outdoor learning successfully improves early childhood social skills while preserving cultural values. This culturally responsive educational approach provides a sustainable framework for developing contextual and effective early childhood education that strengthens both social competencies and cultural identity.
References
Almufid, A. D., Hardiyanti, S. S., Rahma, A. Z. A., Hawari, M. A., & Agustin, N. (2023). Reconstructing the Kato Nan Ampek Culture: A Model of Communication Ethics Education to Address the Moral Degradation of Children in the Village of Batang Palupuh, West Sumatra. Humanities & Lan-guage: International Journal of Linguistics, Humanities, and Education. https://doi.org/10.32734/qxkg8a67
Arifiyanti, N., & Suparno, S. (2024). Promoting Prosocial Skill in Early Childhood by Games with Rules. Retos, 56, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v56.103464
Baklien, B., & Haaland, J. J. (2024). Friluftsliv in residential youth care: A resilience perspective on character-forming outdoor experiences. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning. https://doi.org/10.1080/14729679.2024.2344031
Beames, S., Higgins, P., & Nicol, R. (2012). Learning outside the classroom: Theory and guidelines for practice. Learning Outside the Classroom: Theory and Guidelines for Practice, 1–127. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203816011
Boloudakis, M., Linardatou, S., Retalis, S., & Aloizou, V. (2024). Integrating a movement-based learning platform as core curriculum tool in kindergarten classrooms. Br. J. Educ. Technol., 56, 339–365. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13511
Chaniago, I. A., & Alfikri, M. (2022). Communication of Kato Nan Ampek Cultural Perspective in Minangkabau Community in Medan Denai District, Medan City. Daengku: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Innovation. https://doi.org/10.35877/454ri.daengku1095
Gauvain, M. (2020). Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory. Encyclopedia of Infant and Early Childhood De-velopment. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012370877-9.00170-5
Ghosh, D. (2024). The Impact of Early Childhood Education on Cognitive and Social Development. In-ternational Journal For Multidisciplinary Research. https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2024.v06i06.34143
Hill, A. (2021). Embracing Local Community Through Post-activity Outdoor Education. International Explorations in Outdoor and Environmental Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75980-3_20
K, Kisno., & Fatmawati, N. (2024). Study Analysis Of Parents’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding The Cognitive Development Of Early Children In The Areas Of Reading, Writing And Numeration. IJIGAEd: Indonesian Journal of Islamic Golden Age Education, 4(2), 120–135. https://doi.org/10.32332/ijigaed.v4i2.9383
Kharisma, A., Chandra, C., Fauziah, M., & Putera, R. (2023). Linguistic Politeness Based on Local Wis-dom for Minangkabau Tribal Elementary Children. ELEMENTARY: Islamic Teacher Journal. https://doi.org/10.21043/elementary.v11i1.19240
Kiptiah, M. (2023). Developing Social Skills in Early Childhood: A Study of Riverside Communities in Banjarmasin, Indonesia. Society, 11(2), 687–696. https://doi.org/10.33019/society.v11i2.590
Kiviranta, L., Lindfors, E., Rönkkö, M.-L., & Luukka, E. (2024). Outdoor learning in early childhood ed-ucation: Exploring benefits and challenges. Educational Research, 66(1), 102–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2023.2285762
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience As The Source Of Learning And Development. In Journal of Business Ethics (Vol. 1).
Maleki, M., Mardani, A., Mitra Chehrzad, M., Dianatinasab, M., & Vaismoradi, M. (2019). Social Skills in Children at Home and in Preschool. Behavioral Sciences, 9(7), 74. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs9070074
Mariam, N., & Nam, C.-W. (2019). The Development of an ADDIE Based Instructional Model for ELT in Early Childhood Education. 20, 25–55.
Memon, M., Thurasamy, R., Ting, H., & Cheah, J. (2024). PURPOSIVE SAMPLING: A REVIEW AND GUIDELINES FOR QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH. Journal of Applied Structural Equation Model-ing. https://doi.org/10.47263/jasem.9(1)01
Molyneux, T. M., Zeni, M., & Oberle, E. (2022). Choose Your Own Adventure: Promoting Social and Emotional Development Through Outdoor Learning. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-022-01394-3
Murni, C., & Kurniawati, L. (2023). Analysis of the Role of Teachers in Applying Kato Nan Ampek (Local Wisdom) in Early Childhood (pp. 3–9). https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-044-2_2
Niu, S., Yang, J., Niemi, H., Liu, F., Li, J., Wang, H., & Wang, J. (2025). From Play to Progress: Student Learning of Social Skills with a Solution-Focused Approach. Education Sciences. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci15020218
Nurhayati, R. (2020). Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini Menurut Undang – Undang No, 20 Tahun 2003 Dan Sistem Pendidikan Islam. Al-Afkar, 3(2), 57–87. https://doi.org/10.31943/afkar_journal.v3i2.123
Nyanamba, J. M., Hayashi, A., Zhao, Y., Aguilar, S. D., & Liew, J. (2022). Embodied and Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) in Early Childhood: Situating Culturally Relevant SEL in Asian, African, and North American Contexts. Early Education and Development, 33, 746–763. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2021.2024062
Padhy, M., & Hariharan, M. (2023). Social Skill Measurement: Standardization of Scale. Psychological Studies, 68, 114–123. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12646-022-00693-4
Pérez-Brunicardi, D., Archilla-Prat, M. T., Benito-Hernando, L., Martín-del Barrio, M., & Velasco-González, V. (2022). Classrooms outside the school. Lessons for teachers from three education-al experiences during exceptional times. Retos, 45, 628–641. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v45i0.91587
Sakti, S. A., Endraswara, S., & Rohman, A. (2024). Integrating Local Cultural Values into Early Child-hood Education to Promote Character Building. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 23(7), 84–101. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.23.7.5
Shih, Y.-H. (2022). Designing Culturally Responsive Education Strategies to Cultivate Young Children’s Cultural Identities: A Case Study of the Development of a Preschool Local Culture Curriculum. Children, 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9121789
Tb, S. (2023). The Benefit of Outdoor Activity for Child Development. Annals of Physiotherapy & Occu-pational Therapy. https://doi.org/10.23880/aphot-16000241
Waller, T., & Bitou, A. (2011). Research with children: Three challenges for participatory research in early childhood. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal - EUR EARLY CHILD EDUC RES J, 19, 5–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2011.548964
Yıldırım, G., & Akamca, G. Ö. (2017). The effect of outdoor learning activities on the development of preschool children. South African Journal of Education, 37, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v37n2a1378
Zīriņa, T., Ābele, A., Tauriņa, A., & Rutkovska, D. (2021). Promotion of Children’s Cooperation and Physical Development in the Pre-School Outdoor Space. Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2021. https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2021.44
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Syahran Yusuf, Nurhizrah Gistituati, Sufyarma Marsidin, Teguh Arie Sandy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
