<![CDATA[This study aimed to examine the effect of the Guided Discovery Learning model on fifth-grade students’ conceptual understanding of the water cycle in the IPAS subject. The research employed a one-group pretest–posttest design involving elementary school students as research participants. Students’ conceptual understanding was measured using a test instrument that had been validated through content validity and demonstrated acceptable reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.706). Data analysis was conducted by first testing the normality of the difference scores (posttest–pretest) using the Shapiro–Wilk test, followed by a paired sample t-test to examine the effect of the intervention. The results showed a significant improvement in students’ conceptual understanding of the water cycle after the implementation of Guided Discovery Learning (p < 0.05). These findings indicate that Guided Discovery Learning effectively supports meaningful learning by actively engaging students in exploration, scientific reasoning, and guided concept discovery. Therefore, this learning model is relevant for enhancing elementary students’ conceptual understanding in science learning, particularly within the context of the Merdeka Curriculum.]]>
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