Internalizing students’ social awareness through social studies learning and madrasah culture: A qualitative study at MI Al Fithrah Surabaya

Abstract
Students’ social awareness is central to character formation in Islamic elementary
education, yet its internalization through social studies learning remains
underexplored. This study analyzed teacher strategies for internalizing students’
social awareness through social studies learning at MI Al Fithrah Surabaya. Using a
qualitative descriptive design, data were collected through classroom observation,
semi-structured interviews with one teacher and four sixth-grade students, and
documentation of learning activities. The findings show that students’ social
awareness emerged in four dimensions: cooperation, empathy, responsibility, and
honesty, but these values were not consistently enacted in classroom interaction. The
teacher internalized social awareness through heterogeneous group discussion,
contextual social studies materials, madrasah cultural habituation, and personal
reflective feedback. However, the process was constrained by the absence of an
operational affective assessment rubric, digital media influence, student diversity,
and limited instructional time. The study contributes to social studies and Islamic
elementary pedagogy by showing that madrasah culture can strengthen value
internalization when connected with structured classroom practice and formative
affective assessment.
Keywords: affective assessment; character education; Islamic elementary school;
madrasah culture; social awareness; social studies learning