<![CDATA[This study examines how the integration of local culture into Social Studies (IPS) learning can develop the spatial understanding of fourth-grade elementary school students. Spatial understanding, an essential component of geographic and social literacy, is often taught abstractly and disconnected from students' lived environment, resulting in low engagement and superficial mastery of spatial concepts. Using a mixed methods sequential explanatory design, this research was conducted at SDN 122/III Mukai Tengah, involving 32 fourth-grade students as participants. Quantitative data were collected through pretest and posttest instruments measuring spatial-thinking indicators (location, distance and scale, direction, and spatial relationships), while qualitative data were gathered through classroom observation, semi-structured interviews with the teacher and students, and document analysis of lesson plans and student worksheets. Local cultural elements, such as traditional settlement patterns, customary land boundaries, oral history, and regional folklore, were embedded into IPS instructional activities, including community mapping and traditional-village model projects. The findings indicate a meaningful increase in students' spatial-thinking scores after the intervention, accompanied by qualitative evidence of stronger contextual engagement, more concrete mental mapping of the local environment, and growing appreciation of local cultural identity. The discussion highlights how culturally contextualized, place-based instruction bridges abstract spatial concepts with students' everyday spatial experience, consistent with constructivist and place-based education theory. The study concludes that integrating local culture into IPS learning is an effective pedagogical strategy for strengthening elementary students' spatial understanding while simultaneously reinforcing cultural identity, and recommends its wider adoption supported by adequate teacher training and contextual teaching materials.]]>
