<![CDATA[This study aimed to examine and compare the effectiveness of concrete and digital learning media in improving elementary students’ conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction. Previous studies have generally examined concrete or digital media separately, while comparative evidence on their relative effectiveness in developing students’ conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction across different instructional settings remains limited. To address this gap, the present study compared concrete and digital media with conventional instruction within a quasi-experimental framework. A quantitative approach using a nonequivalent control group design was employed with 66 fourth-grade students from three elementary schools in Blora Regency, Indonesia. The participants consisted of 28 students in the concrete media group at SDN 1 Biting, 19 students in the digital media group at SDN Giyanti, and 19 students in the control group at SDN 1 Ngroto. Total sampling was employed at each school. Data were collected using pretests and posttests measuring students’ conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction and analyzed using descriptive statistics, paired-samples t-tests, One-Way ANOVA, and Tukey post hoc tests at a significance level of 0.05. The findings showed significant improvements in all three groups. Mean scores increased from 56.21 to 74.85 in the concrete media group, from 58.10 to 82.67 in the digital media group, and from 55.43 to 65.12 in the control group. The One-Way ANOVA indicated significant differences among the three groups (F = 8.732, p = .001). Tukey post hoc analysis further revealed significant differences between the digital and control groups (p = .000) and between the concrete and control groups (p = .012). The novelty of this study lies in its direct comparison of concrete and digital media with conventional instruction for developing elementary students’ conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction across three school contexts. The findings provide empirical evidence that both media-based approaches are beneficial, with digital media demonstrating the highest posttest achievement among the groups.]]>
