Anwar Novianto, Firmansyah, Dafid Slamet Setiana, Iis Prasetyo
Mobile-based games have become an integral part of elementary school children’s daily lives in Indonesia, offering informal digital environments where learning and social interaction occur simultaneously. While mobile games are often viewed primarily as entertainment, they also embed numerical practices and social dynamics that may support both numeracy development and character education. However, limited research has examined how these experiences relate simultaneously to numeracy and Pancasila values as Indonesia’s cultural foundation. This study explores how elementary school children engage in numeracy activities through mobile gaming and how these practices intertwine with Pancasila values. Using a descriptive phenomenological approach, the study involved students in grades III–V from four regions in Indonesia: Pacitan, Klaten, Yogyakarta, and Banten. The findings reveal that numeracy in mobile games extends beyond basic counting to include resource management, collaboration, and shared decisionmaking. At the same time, Pancasila values such as cooperation (gotong royong), justice, empathy, and responsibility emerged organically through gameplay interactions. The study concludes that mobile games function as culturally grounded digital learning spaces that support contextual numeracy and character development, offering meaningful implications for values-based learning in elementary education. © The Author(s).
Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
