Outdoor Fiqh Learning as Eco-Social Praxis: Fostering Environmental Awareness and Social Responsibility

Abstract

Fiqh instruction in madrasas is frequently dominated by classroom exposition and memorization, limiting students' opportunities to enact religious values in authentic settings. This study examines the implementation of outdoor learning in seventh-grade fiqh instruction at MTsN 9 Magetan and analyzes its contribution to environmental awareness and social responsibility. Using a qualitative case-study design, data were obtained from the principal, two vice principals, one fiqh teacher, and three students through non-participant observation, interviews, and documentation. Data were analyzed through condensation, display, conclusion drawing, and source-method triangulation. The findings indicate that outdoor learning followed a sequence of classroom-based normative orientation, environmental observation, direct worship and cleanliness practices in the mosque, schoolyard, and garden, group discussion, and collective tasks. These activities enabled students to translate the concepts of taharah, khalifah, amanah, and ta'awun into observable conduct, including proper waste disposal, care for worship spaces and school facilities, cooperation, peer assistance, respect for differing views, and responsible task completion. Institutional support, teacher creativity, accessible learning environments, and student motivation facilitated implementation, whereas limited time, weather, student management, and learning media constrained it. The study's novelty lies in conceptualizing outdoor fiqh learning as an eco-social praxis cycle through which normative knowledge is transformed into contextual experience, religious reflection, collective action, and habitual ethical conduct. Outdoor learning therefore constitutes not merely a change of setting, but a pedagogical mechanism for integrating ecological piety with social responsibility.