Developing Ma’kombongan-Based Democracy Teaching Materials to Enhance University Students’ Political Morality

Roberto Salu Situru; Theresyam Kabanga; Yulianus Marappa

doi:10.35445/alishlah.v18i2.8973

Developing Ma’kombongan-Based Democracy Teaching Materials to Enhance University Students’ Political Morality

Roberto Salu Situru, Theresyam Kabanga, Yulianus Marappa

Abstract

Democracy education in higher education should develop not only students’ civic knowledge but also their political morality. However, democracy teaching materials often remain theoretical and are insufficiently connected to students’ sociocultural contexts. This study developed Ma’kombongan-based democracy teaching materials to support the political morality of university students in the Torajan context. This study employed a research and development design using the ADDIE model. The participants were 30 undergraduate students enrolled in a Civic Education course at UKI Toraja. Data were collected through needs-analysis questionnaires, expert validation sheets, practicality questionnaires, observation, interviews, and a political morality scale covering social responsibility, honesty and integrity, concern for public issues, and participation in democratic discussions. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and a paired-samples t test. The teaching materials received an expert validation mean score of 4.66, indicating a high level of validity, and a practicality mean score of 4.55, indicating that the materials were very practical for classroom use. Students’ political morality mean score increased from 3.05 in the pretest to 4.21 in the posttest. The paired-samples t test showed a significant difference between pretest and posttest scores, t(29) = 10.45, p < .001, with a large effect size. The findings suggest that Ma’kombongan-based democracy teaching materials have the potential to support students’ political morality by connecting democratic concepts with local cultural values. Because this study used a one-group pretest–posttest design, the results should be interpreted as preliminary evidence. Future studies should involve control groups, larger samples, and longer interventions.

Keywords

civic education; democracy education; local wisdom; Ma’kombongan; political morality

References

Abubakar, A., Aswita, D., Israwati, Ferdianto, J., Jailani, Anwar, & Hayati. (2022). The implementation of local values in Aceh education curriculum. Jurnal Ilmiah Peuradeun, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.26811/peuradeun.v10i1.660

Anderson, L. W. (2023). Civic education, citizenship, and democracy. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 31. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.31.7991

Bellmann, J. (2019). John Dewey: Democracy and education. In Hauptwerke der Pädagogik. https://doi.org/10.30965/9783657768387_040

Chang, W. C., & Viesca, K. M. (2022). Preparing teachers for culturally responsive/relevant pedagogy: A critical review of research. Teachers College Record, 124(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221086676

Cole, M., John-Steiner, V., Scribner, S., Souberman, E., & Wertsch, J. V. (1979). L. S. Vygotsky: Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. The American Journal of Psychology, 92(1). https://doi.org/10.2307/1421493

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. Macmillan.

Ekawati, S. A., Ali, M., Lakatupa, G., Asfan, L. O. M., Manga, S., & Sari, F. R. (2022). Siri’ na pacce: The local wisdom of coastal community settlement patterns and its existence amid COVID-19 pandemic. Civil Engineering and Architecture, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.13189/cea.2022.100105

Gutmann, A., & Thompson, D. (2009). Why deliberative democracy? Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.cpt.9300287

Hillygus, D. S., & Holbein, J. B. (2023). Refocusing civic education: Developing the skills young people need to engage in democracy. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 705(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/00027162231177798

Kamboni, L. S., Magasu, O., Simui, F., & Muleya, G. (2025). The role of civic education in civic participation among students of some selected tertiary institutions in Zambia. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, IX(II). https://doi.org/10.47772/ijriss.2025.9020351

López-Meseguer, R., & Mínguez-Vallejos, R. (2024). Civic education: A concept analysis. Teoría de la Educación, 36(2). https://doi.org/10.14201/teri.31749

Moore, A. W. (1916). Democracy and education. The International Journal of Ethics, 26(4). https://doi.org/10.1086/intejethi.26.4.2376473

Mubeen, A. (2025). Youth political participation and trust in democratic institutions: A study of university students. Journal of Social Science Perspectives, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.65761/jssp.2025.v2.i1.8

Mulder, L. E. M. (2023). On-site citizenship education: An effective way of boosting democratic engagement and reducing inequalities among young people? Political Behavior, 45(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09710-0

Nani, Y. N. (2022). Pancasila democracy versus direct democracy: A review of the concept of civil society. European Journal of Science, Innovation and Technology, 2(2).

Nurmaya, A., Ramli, M., Atmoko, A., & Akbar, S. (2025). Integrating local wisdom into moral and character education to foster students’ moral reasoning: An embedded mixed-methods study. Journal of Cultural Analysis and Social Change. https://doi.org/10.64753/jcasc.v11i1.3139

Oogarah-Pratap, B., Bholoa, A., & Ramma, Y. (2025). Stage theory of cognitive development—Jean Piaget. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-81351-1_8

Pakpahan, F. H., & Saragih, M. (2022). Theory of cognitive development by Jean Piaget. Journal of Applied Linguistics, 2(2). https://doi.org/10.52622/joal.v2i2.79

Sakti, S. A., Endraswara, S., & Rohman, A. (2024). Revitalizing local wisdom within character education through ethnopedagogy approach: A case study on a preschool in Yogyakarta. Heliyon, 10(10), Article e31370. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31370

Schmidt, M., & Allsup, R. E. (2019). John Dewey and teacher education. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.475

Situru’, R. S., Tangkeallo, D. I., Borean, J., Palebangan, R., & Slamet, W. (2022). Transformation of Toraja Ma’kombongan culture to a cooperative learning model. Edumaspul: Jurnal Pendidikan, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.33487/edumaspul.v6i2.4172

Syamsunardi, S. (2022). Internalisasi budaya Siri’ na Pacce dalam membangun karakter mahasiswa di perguruan tinggi. LaGeografia, 20(2). https://doi.org/10.35580/lageografia.v20i2.30916

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Westheimer, J. (2022). Can teacher education save democracy? Teachers College Record, 124(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681221086773

Youpika, F., Sumiyadi, Permadi, T., Sunendar, D., & Yandryati, J. (2024). The endangered Central Malay folklore: A medium for internalizing character values in Indonesian language and literature. International Journal of Language Education, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v8i1.60908

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35445/alishlah.v18i2.8973