Enhancing Elementary Students Environmental Literacy through an Integrated Contextual Approach: Multimedia Learning Materials, Adiwiyata Values, and Post-Mining Contexts

Environmental literacy in elementary education is critical for shaping students’ long-term environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. However, instructional approaches that systematically integrate digital learning, environmental values, and authentic local contexts remain limited. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Integrated Contextual Digital Environmental Learning Approach (ICDELA), a framework combining multimedia learning, Adiwiyata environmental values, and post-mining environmental contexts within a unified instructional design. A quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design was employed with 110 fifth-grade students from elementary schools in mining-affected areas of Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Environmental literacy was measured across three dimensions: environmental understanding, environmental attitude, and pro-environmental behavior. Data were analyzed using paired-sample and independent-sample t-tests, along with Cohen’s d effect size. The results indicated that students in the ICDELA group achieved significantly higher post-test scores than those in the conventional learning group (p < .001). Effect size analysis revealed a large improvement in environmental understanding (d = 0.81) and moderate improvements in environmental attitude (d = 0.54) and pro-environmental behavior (d = 0.52). These findings highlight the novelty of ICDELA as an integrated framework linking multimedia-supported learning, value-based environmental education, and authentic local environmental issues, demonstrating its effectiveness in fostering environmental literacy in elementary education.