When Culture and Science Unite: Unveiling Early Childhood Physics through Ethnoscience Experiments in Sumba, Land of Marapu

What happens when children learn physics not from pictures in a book, but from traditional houses, spinning tops, woven cloth and coconut shells? In Sumba Barat Daya, that question has now been answered. Objects long regarded as part of daily life and cultural heritage turn out to embody scientific phenomena: the Sumba traditional house speaks of balance, the spinning top demonstrates rotational motion, the dyeing of woven threads introduces capillarity, and coconut shell games illustrate the work of friction on different surfaces.

The problem is that this potential has not always featured in early childhood learning. Science education at PAUD (early childhood education centres) is still perceived as requiring special equipment, laboratory space or difficult material — a perception that looms large in underdeveloped, frontier and outermost (3T) regions with limited facilities, risking children viewing science as something far removed from their everyday lives.

Young children learn through concrete experience. They touch, see, try, compare, ask questions and then discover things from what they experience. For that reason, introducing science to children need not begin with scientific terminology, but rather with experiences that spark curiosity.

This is where ethnoscience finds its relevance.

Ethnoscience bridges knowledge that grows within community life and scientific knowledge. The approach connects local culture not merely as an object of preservation, but as a living source of learning.

The idea was put into practice by a Community Service (PkM) team from Universitas Stella Maris Sumba, which received a 2026 grant from the Directorate of Research and Community Service (DPPM) of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, at the Horeb Play Group (KB) in Wee Londa village, Tambolaka, Sumba Barat Daya Regency. The programme, led by Rambu Ririnsia Harra Hau together with Bewa Dangu Soleman Renda Bili and two students, accompanied five PAUD teachers in developing ethnoscience-based Sumba science learning.

Notably, the teachers were invited to see their surroundings as scientific: the phenomena that occur, the questions to pose to children, and the simple games that can be used to help children find answers.

The Sumba traditional house, for example, is not merely a traditional building. Its structure and form can be used to invite children to observe balance and load distribution. Teachers can encourage children to ask why an object stands firm, or what happens when a load is placed in a different position.

The same applies to the spinning top. The traditional game is not just entertainment. When spun, children can observe how objects move, why the top spins, and why it eventually stops. From that simple experience, children begin to engage with the concepts of rotational motion and turning force.

Ikat woven cloth can become a learning space. Natural dyes from turmeric or creeping leaves that absorb into threads can be observed as an early experience introducing capillarity, while coconut shell games can be used to show the differences in friction on particular surfaces.

“Science is not a complicated subject; Sumbanese children in fact already ‘learn’ physics every day through their own culture,” asserted Rambu Ririnsia Harra Hau, the team leader.

The statement points to a larger issue in education in 3T regions. Limited facilities cannot be ignored. Yet education must also not stop at a list of what schools lack.

An equally important question is: what does the community already possess that has not yet been harnessed as a source of learning?

Sumba possesses cultural wealth, natural surroundings, traditional games, crafts and community knowledge that can all become learning resources. The challenge is how teachers transform that wealth into directed learning experiences appropriate to children’s development.

The community service activity produced MODE-SUMBA, or the Sumba Ethnoscience Experiment Digital Module. Teachers were equipped to create interactive digital catalogues, short learning videos, and documentation storage via digital platforms. At KB Horeb, a Science Corner was also developed, fitted with QR codes so that learning media can be accessed again by teachers and parents.

Technology, however, is not the end goal. QR codes, videos and digital catalogues will only be meaningful if they bring children back to real experience: playing, observing, asking and trying. Digitalisation must not replace the direct interaction that lies at the heart of early childhood learning.

The mentoring results showed a 71 per cent improvement in teachers’ understanding (a high category), though the challenge of early childhood science literacy still requires programme continuity, consistent classroom practice, parental involvement and sustained capacity building for teachers.

KB Horeb’s manager, Yublina Dapasapu, acknowledged the shift in perspective. “Previously we were confused about how to introduce science without laboratory facilities. Now, just by observing the structure of the Sumba traditional house, spinning tops or woven cloth, we can teach science in a really enjoyable way. The children have become far more active and critical.”

The experience at KB Horeb shows that science learning need not begin with a fully equipped laboratory. Sometimes it starts from the ground beneath a child’s feet, the culture they know, and the simple questions that arise from curiosity.

Limited facilities in fact open up a larger question: might science learning be built from what is closest to children’s lives?

The answer may be as simple as a child spinning a top.

The child plays.

The child asks.

The child observes.

And without realising it, the child is learning physics.

In Sumba, children’s first laboratory is not a building, but nature, the traditional house, woven cloth, traditional games and the culture that surrounds them every day.

It remains only for education to open eyes to explore it.

With this training, teachers are expected not only to master knowledge, but also to deliver learning experiences that are relevant, inspiring and impactful for their pupils.