Riyan Dwi Cahyaningsih, Fakhruddin, Widiyanto, Agus Yuwono
Inclusive education often fails to address the unique challenges experienced by visually impaired students, especially in the realm of social interaction and cooperative learning. This is one of the factors that contribute to a lack of social skills for blind students. Faced with this gap, this study investigates the improvement of their cooperative skills through the integration of the Numbered Heads Together (NHT) model and local culture, namely traditional song media rooted in local cultural wisdom. The research utilised a two-cycle Classroom Action Research (CAR) approach involving 32 visually impaired learners and four facilitators at a Pendowo social service centre in Kudus, Indonesia. Instructional activities were adapted to auditory modalities and enriched with culturally relevant songs to promote participation and group engagement. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through pre-tests, post-tests, observations, and interviews. The results showed significant improvements across five cooperative skill indicators-group discussion activeness, task-sharing, verbal confidence, respect for peer opinions, and task completion with n-gain values ranging from 0.62 to 0.68 (moderate-high learning gains; p < 0.001). Paired t-test analysis confirmed statistically significant progress. Learner and facilitator feedback highlighted increased cultural connection, emotional comfort, and social cohesion. These findings suggest that integrating cooperative learning models with culturally responsive media can substantially enhance inclusive classroom dynamics for visually impaired students. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by demonstrating a scalable model that addresses both the cognitive and sociocultural needs of visually impaired students. It underscores the importance of integrating local wisdom into instructional design and advocates for the continued development of contextually grounded inclusive pedagogies. Copyright (c) 2025 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Universitas Negeri Semarang, Semarang, Indonesia
