Integrating Islamic Values into Social Studies to Foster Students' Religious Attitudes: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study in Kudus, Indonesia

Abstract

This study investigates the integration of Islamic values into Social Studies and its impact on students’ religious attitudes. It designs integrated social studies materials using Fogarty’s connected model to address the gap between academic knowledge and moral development. Utilizing a convergent mixed-methods design, the research began with a collaborative curriculum analysis with social studies teachers, which was subsequently validated by Quran-Hadith experts. The topic "Human interaction with the environment and resource potential" was systematically connected to Islamic values, specifically gratitude (syukur) and trustworthiness (amanah), as grounded in the Al-Quran and Hadith. Quantitatively, the study utilized a one-group pre-test and post-test design with 264 junior high school students from three schools in Kudus, Indonesia, measuring religious attitudes through Huber’s Centrality of Religiosity Scale before and after the intervention. To triangulate the findings, in-depth interviews with teachers and students, and classroom observations of students’ religious behaviors were conducted. Findings indicate significant convergence between knowledge acquisition and spiritual habituation across CRS dimensions. The highest growth occurred in the public practice (13,50%) and intellectual (11,83%) dimensions. While the ideology dimension achieved high behavioral success due to pre-existing religious capital, a behavioral lag was observed in private practice, resulting from domestic gaps in parental reinforcement. By applying the connected model, this study demonstrates that science and religion can be mutually supportive without compromising disciplinary integrity. The results offer a robust, values-responsive framework for educators to develop values-responsive curricula in religious contexts.