THE ROLE OF SOCIO-SCIENTIFIC ISSUES (SSI) IN DEVELOPING SCIENTIFIC LITERACY IN NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE (IPAS) LEARNING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Scientific literacy is a crucial competency as a pillar of 21st-century education. It must be developed in students as early as possible. Elementary school students need a foundation of scientific literacy in their learning. Scientific literacy can be incorporated into natural and social science subjects, which are among the subjects at the elementary school level. To support the development of scientific literacy, the Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) approach can be used. SSI is an approach with a correlation between various dimensions, such as science, health, environment, politics, law, and social. In the SSI approach, there is a learning context that emphasizes phenomena that exist in everyday life. The importance of SSI and scientific literacy for students, because of their role as global citizens who must be able to solve problems that exist in everyday life. This study aims to examine the role of SSI-based learning in improving elementary school students' scientific literacy through a systematic literature review (SLR) approach. The study was conducted on articles from the Google Scholar and Scopus databases with a limit of the last 5 years (2022-2026) that discuss the implementation of SSI in science learning. The study results show that SSI-based learning consistently contributes positively to the development of scientific literacy, particularly in the aspects of conceptual understanding, the ability to explain phenomena scientifically, and the use of scientific knowledge in real-life contexts. Contextual issues help students connect scientific concepts to everyday life problems, making learning more meaningful. At the elementary school level, SSI has proven effective in improving students' scientific literacy. Therefore, SSI-based learning is recommended as an effective approach to strengthening elementary school students' scientific literacy conceptually and contextually.