Evaluating Science Curriculum Implementation through Students’ Experiences and Opportunities to Learn in Frontier Schools in Southwest Papua, Indonesia

Rabiudin Rabiudin (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sorong)
Agus Salim (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sorong)
Gladys Mahaut (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sorong)
Arhan Keliata (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sorong)
Nurani Rahareng (Institut Agama Islam Negeri Sorong)

Jurnal Pendidikan Dasar
Vol. 8 No. 1 (2026)

Equitable access to quality science education remains a critical global challenge, as standardized curricular reforms frequently encounter structural inequalities in geographically remote areas. Using a qualitative descriptive design informed by reflexive thematic analysis, this study examined how junior secondary students in a frontier (3T) setting in Southwest Papua Province, Indonesia, experienced discrepancies between national science curriculum expectations and their actual classroom learning opportunities, and how they responded to learning hurdles in science. Data were gathered from 10 students convenience sampled from 10 different schools through semi structured individual interviews organized around two domains, include students' experiences of curriculum–practice discrepancies, and learning hurdles and students' negotiation strategies. Regarding the first research question, students reported that topics prescribed by the national curriculum generally remained visible in classroom instruction, but that laboratory based, inquiry oriented, and locally contextualized learning opportunities were considerably reduced by resource limitations, out of field teaching, and geographic isolation. Regarding the second research question, the analysis indicated that learning hurdles had a double edged effect include constraints were associated with frustration and a view of science as abstract and memorization oriented, yet, when successfully negotiated through peer collaboration, digital resources, and local ecological knowledge, the same constraints could also support creativity and a more situated understanding of science. These findings suggest that standardized curriculum implementation does not by itself guarantee equitable opportunities to learn, pointing to a need for sensitive context, differentiated implementation support in frontier schools. As the study draws on a small, geographically bounded sample from Southwest Papua, the findings should be read as an in depth, contextually grounded account rather than a statistically generalizable one, future research could extend this work through classroom observation, teacher perspectives, and comparative frontier–urban designs.