Implementasi Model Pembelajaran Understanding by Design (UbD) dalam Internalisasi Nilai Pada Mata Pelajaran Akidah Akhlak: Sebuah Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Akidah Akhlak learning faces a structural challenge in the form of the dominance of cognitive orientation, which reduces learning to mastery of material and memorization, thereby creating a systemic gap between students’ knowledge and their actual behavior. Although various learning innovations have been developed, most remain partial and have not been grounded in a comprehensive instructional design framework. This study aims to examine the implementation of Understanding by Design (UbD) principles in Akidah Akhlak learning through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach. This study used the PRISMA 2020 guidelines through the stages of identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion of articles sourced from Google Scholar, Scopus, DOAJ, Garuda, and SINTA. Of the 36 articles identified, 14 articles were analyzed using thematic analysis techniques. The review findings revealed three main findings. First, Akidah Akhlak learning is consistently still dominated by a cognitive orientation that produces a knowing-doing gap across educational levels and cannot be addressed merely through partial changes in teaching methods. Second, contextual, reflective, and experiential learning practices that have developed in the field have characteristics aligned with UbD principles, but they have not yet been systematized within a coherent design framework. Third, the five UbD principles, namely backward design, enduring understanding, transfer learning, authentic assessment, and meaningful learning, are already implicitly present in the pedagogical tradition of Akidah Akhlak and can be developed as an explicit systematization framework. The conclusion of this study affirms that UbD has the potential to serve as an instructional design framework capable of shifting the orientation of Akidah Akhlak from mastery of material toward understanding that is transformed into character. This review provides a theoretical contribution by expanding the construct of enduring understanding with spiritual and transcendental dimensions in the context of Islamic education, as well as practical contributions for teachers, curriculum developers, and educational institutions in designing behavior-based authentic assessments and building a coherent learning ecosystem.