Edutainment in social studies learning: Can it develop critical thinking skills and creativity?

This study is a response to the current conditions of social studies teaching and learning in Indonesia, which are considered tedious, emphasizing low-level components of intellectual growth. Such conditions necessitate the development  of the Social Sciences teachers’ creativity to create enjoyable learning that accommodates students' competency attainment. This study aims to investigate, analyze, and characterise edutainment-based social science learning innovations adopted in junior high school. Research and development were employed in the study. It began with a preliminary investigation, followed by constructing an educational entertainment model. According to the study's findings, there are three forms of edutainment development in social science education. These include instructional games, edutainment through the "If History" technique, and edutainment through creative writing techniques. These three methods were found to be promoting students’ participation in the learning process through engaging activities and exploring content familiar to the student's context. This type of research has the potential to develop a creative and innovative Social Science learning model in junior secondary education.  Keywords: education in the social sciences, edutainment, learning model