Strengthening Students’ Digital Ethics through Kampung Pancasila-Based Democratic Citizenship Education
Abstract
The increasing use of digital technology has created growing challenges related to students’ digital ethics, including misinformation, hate speech, cyberbullying, and irresponsible online participation. This study examined how a Kampung Pancasila-based democratic citizenship education model contributed to the development of digital ethics among senior high school students. An action research design was implemented through two iterative cycles of planning, action, observation, and reflection in three senior high schools representing urban, semi-urban, and rural contexts in Central Java, Indonesia. The study involved 120 students, with the participation of Citizenship Education teachers, school principals, and members of Kampung Pancasila communities. Data were collected through digital ethics assessments, observations, interviews, focus group discussions, field notes, and reflective records. The findings showed that the mean digital ethics score increased from 64.28 in Cycle 1 to 83.47 in Cycle 2, representing an increase of 19.19 points. The proportion of students meeting the Minimum Mastery Criterion (MMC) of 70 increased from 68.3% to 87.5%, exceeding the predetermined success criterion of 85%. A paired-samples t-test indicated a statistically significant improvement, t(119) = 18.72, p < .001, with a large effect size (Cohen’s d = 1.71). The normalized gain (N-gain) score of 0.54 indicated a moderate improvement. The qualitative findings further demonstrated increased student participation, more responsible digital communication, critical evaluation of online information, digital empathy, and ethical online engagement. This study contributes to Citizenship Education and digital citizenship research by integrating Pancasila values, community-based democratic learning, digital ethics, and iterative action research across diverse school contexts. The findings suggest that the Kampung Pancasila-based democratic citizenship education model was associated with improvements in students’ digital ethics within the action research context; however, the absence of a control group limits causal interpretation.
Keywords: digital citizenship; digital ethics; Citizenship Education; Kampung Pancasila; democratic citizenship education; action research; Pancasila values.
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