Preliminary Research on Development of Mobile Games-Based Social Studies Learning Media to Develop 21st Century Skills

Abstract

Social studies learning will lose its dignity when it does not adjust with the characteristics of generation Z students who are unique and have main characteristics that cannot be separated from gadgets. The objectives of this study are to reveal the social studies learning media during the covid-19 pandemic and after, the characteristics of learners in using mobile phones, and 21^st century skills possessed by students. This research was conducted in a junior high school in Jember Regency, East Java, Indonesia, with 75 students and the teacher participating as the respondents. This research was conducted under descriptive qualitative method with data collection using interviews, documentation, observation and questionnaires for 21^st century skills, while data analysis used triangulation techniques. The results showed that students at the school liked to play games via mobile phones for at least 1 hour per day. Furthermore, social studies learning in schools has not evaluated the skills of the 21^st century holistically. When collecting data using the questionnaire, it was found that the 21^st century skills possessed by students were at below average level with a score of 2.67 with a maximum scale of 5. The conclusion of this study recommends the need for social studies learning media that is in accordance with the characteristics of generation Z learners who like to play games by developing social studies learning media based on mobile games in order to develop students’ 21^st century skills.