Social Sciences Education

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the theses written in the field of social studies education in 2011-2014 in Turkey. Within the context of the current study, totally 307 master's theses written in 2011-2014 in relation to their topic, study group and method were examined. One of the qualitative data analysis techniques, descriptive analysis was employed in the study. While examining the theses, a file was opened for each thesis with a code such as T1, T2 etc, the topic, study group and method of each thesis were recorded in its file and then these data were transferred to NVivo 9.0 program. Then, as a result of the descriptive analysis conducted, the topics of the theses were coded in such a way as to collect them under themes. At the end of the coding process, models including the frequencies of the marking of each code were constructed. The results of the evaluation show that the main focus of the theses is the effect of teaching methods and techniques that can be used in social studies courses on the attitudes, behaviors and academic achievement of students. In addition to this, there are also many theses addressing the efficiency of the social studies course in imparting target skills, values and information to students. Moreover, there are some theses aiming to develop the current social studies program. While usually the students attending social studies classes constitute the study group of the theses, there are also some theses looking at the opinions of teachers and pre-service teachers. In general, descriptive survey and pretest-posttest experimental research design were used in the theses. In the analyses, quantitative data analysis techniques were employed.

Social sciences course (Gesellschaftswissenschaften) which has been taught since 2017-2018 academic year in 5th and 6th grades in Berlin state of Germany is a citizenship course which investigates the sophisticated aspects of living together as a community in regards with the notions of time, place and society similar to the social studies course that is taught from grade 4 till the end of grade 7 in Turkey. The aim of this study is to compare the curriculum of the social sciences course which is taught in 5th and 6th grades in Berlin state of Germany with the social studies course which is taught in Turkey and to reveal the similarities and differences between the courses. The comparison was made within the framework of the general features, aims, subject/learning areas of the courses and the skills to be acquired. In this study, which is an example of comparative education, case study, one of the qualitative research methods, was used and the data were obtained by document analysis. The research sample consists of the curriculum of social sciences that is taught in Germany and the curriculum of social studies that is taught in Turkey in the scope of purposive sampling. The data were analyzed, compared and interpreted using content analysis. According to the research results; Both courses are designed according to the integrated education approach and are based on raising active citizens who will develop the culture of democracy. Among the characteristics of active citizens, it has been determined that the construction of national identity in social studies comes to the fore, while the understanding of raising universal citizens in social sciences is at the forefront.

The purpose of the study is to assess the health interest level of fast food consumers and the effecting factors. To reach this aim, four main hypotheses tested in the study. A questionnaire was formed to collect the data needed to test the hypothesis. The questionnaire was carried out to the 211 fast food consumers at main fast food restaurants in Sakarya/Turkey. Both intentional and convenience sampling methods was used in the study, picking voluntary fast food consumers at the restaurants. The results indicate that, health interest of fast food consumers is at medium-high level (3.36 out of 5). Health interest level of fast food consumers increased in direct proportion to the increase of monthly income level. Also, the more a person visits a fast food restaurant the less her/his health interest level become. It also can be seen from the results that marital and child having situation are both significantly related to the heath interest level of fast food consumers. Thus, accordin...

This study investigates the impact of �five determinants of the rewards system on employee's motivation in the context of private schools. A sample of 310 respondents is drawn from the private school teachers of Karachi. The rewards system was measured through �ve independent variables including salary o�ffered, recognition, promotion, working content, and working conditions. By using exploratory factor and regression analyses, the results show that except salary o�er, rests of the four variables have been found statistically signifi�cant to predict teacher's motivation. However, the recognition of eff�orts followed by working conditions have revealed the greatest impact on teacher's motivation. Thus, the management of the private schools should not only recognize the e�fforts of their teaching staff� but also concentrate on revising and enriching their working conditions to increase their level of motivation. A major contribution of this paper from the theoretical point...

Grit is explaining in Dictionary of the Turkish language Association as determination and desire to have identified the level of long-term goals. Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) are definiting it as, perseverance and passion for Long-Term Goals. In addition to stating that grit is an important factor in measuring the intelligence and the success. At the same time they have stressed that the grit is much more important predictors of success. Even Duckworth and Quinn (2009) argued that grit is more effective than intelligence scores for explainig the success. There are some studies that they are advocating grit is closely associated with self-discipline, self-regulation and goal orientation, and grit is the main factor for exlaining that concpts(Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). In this study, university student success and their grit's are analysed. Therefore, determining the relationship between success and grit is used for descriptive screenin...

This booklet is a synthesis of research on social sciences teaching that has been shown to have a positive effect on a range of desirable student outcomes: cognitive, skills, participatory and affective outcomes. Education in the social sciences plays an important role in developing students’ sense of identity and influencing the ways in which they understand, participate in and contribute to local, national and global communities.
The twelve principles of effective pedagogy highlighted in this
booklet are organized around five major findings from the evidence concerning effective teaching in the social sciences (including social studies, history, geography, economics, classical studies and other social sciences). The first four findings are that alignment, connection, community and interest offer broad explanations for how teaching can support the achievement of valued outcomes for students. While these findings are associated with principles of effective teaching
generally, their particular usefulness arises from their origin in the source articles drawn from the social sciences. Teacher content knowledge in specific social sciences is critical to success, but the focus of this summary is on the “how” of effective teaching across the social sciences.

The fifth finding—teaching as inquiry—concerns a model of inquiry that can help teachers apply research-based strategies in ways that are responsive to their own diverse groups of learners. The model is also important because it can mitigate against the risk that (as has been found) teaching practices may have unintended negative effects on students.

Consultation is an important feature of research and, increasingly, researchers are required to work in partnership with stakeholders to increase the impact of their work. Our aim is to demonstrate what can be learned from the scholarship on, and practice of, member checking to facilitate productive knowledge exchange. Using dialogical analysis we explore three member check interactions from three different qualitative psychology projects focusing our analysis on difficult moments between researchers and participants conceptualised here as ‘sore spots’. We identify two major genres in these sequences: participant ambivalence and participant challenge. We then consider passages that allow us to explore a more theoretical understanding of these two genres in terms of the metaphor of portraits and mirrors. Overall, we outline how implicit epistemologies and theories of subjectivity (uncomplicated, blank, and complex) may be linked to the way in which stakeholders approach research. We also provide a map with regard to the theories within which member checks can be undertaken, associated research practices in terms of a range of researcher responses to stakeholder ambivalence and challenge, and implications of these moments for knowledge exchange for qualitative research but also for psychological science as a whole. We conclude that sore spots in knowledge exchange process can be productive opportunities of transformational validity.

Keywords: member check; knowledge exchange; research impact; dialogical analysis; participant validation

ÖZET
Bu araştırmada Türkiye’de 1985-2015 yılları arasında ilköğretim okullarında okutulan ve tarih konularını kapsayan Sosyal Bilgiler, Milli Tarih ve T.C. İnkılâp Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük derslerinin öğretim programları ile ders kitaplarında Çanakkale Savaşlarının ele alınış şekli ve bunun zaman içerisinde uğradığı değişimi ortaya koymak ve değerlendirmek amaçlanmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda 1985-2004 yılları arasında uygulanan davranışçı yaklaşıma göre hazırlanan öğretim programları ve ders kitaplarında Çanakkale Savaşlarının sadece askeri-siyasi boyutuyla ele alındığı ve ağırlıklı olarak Mustafa Kemal’in Çanakkale Savaşlarının seyri üzerindeki etkisi üzerinde durulduğu anlaşılmaktadır. 2005-2006 öğretim yılından itibaren yapılandırmacı yaklaşıma göre hazırlanan ilköğretim Sosyal Bilgiler ve T.C. İnkılâp Tarihi ve Atatürkçülük dersleri öğretim programları ve ders kitaplarında ise savaşın askeri-siyasi boyutu ve Mustafa Kemal’in başarılarına verilen önem sürdürülmekle beraber, savaşın sosyal boyutu ve dramatik sonuçlarına da dikkat çekilmeye çalışılmaktadır. Bu dönemde okutulan ders kitaplarında nispeten daha dinsel içerikli bir söylem kullanılmaktadır.
ABSTRACT
In this study, it has been aimed to present and assess the curricula and textbooks of the courses Social Studies, National History and Revolution History of Turkish Republic and Kemalism used in primary schools in the years between 1985-2015 in Turkey in terms of the way of handling Dardanelles Wars and the change it underwent through time. As a result of the study, in the curricula and textbooks prepared according to the behavioral approach it is understood that, the Dardanelle Wars are studied only with the perspective of military-political and mainly the impact of Mustafa Kemal on the course of Dardanelle Wars. On the other hand, from the year 2005-2006, in curricula and in the textbooks of primary education Social Studies and Revolution History of Turkish Republic and Kemalism courses prepared according to the constructivist approach, the importance of Mustafa Kemal’s successes is still focused and the social dimension of the war and its dramatic results are drawn attention and more religious content speech is used.

The present paper deals on a general level with the relationship between transsexuality and power, approaching the extent to which gender reassignment and the transition from one gender to another influence the position of power of the people involved. Specifically, the research presented here aimed to analyse the interconnection between gender, work, leadership and power position in the case of transgender people who have gone through a process of gender transition. Using a qualitative methodology, which involved a sociological case study within there were conducted three semi-structured in-depth interviews and a two-week participant observation, there was on one hand ensued to identify to what extent there is a proportionality between the reassignment of gender and the position of power, and on the other hand how transsexuality and gender reassignment/ transition impact the professional career path and the leadership position of the concerned persons. The results of the empirical ...

The critical thinking functional model is presented in the paper. It is described basic stages of mental process and application domain. The critical thought is lasted in four stages: 1) realization of problem or clash with problem; 2) problem situation and problem task put some obstacles for goal achievement – difficult situation; 3) restructuring of knowledge, action's methods, own attitudes, experience and person come to the idea of correct solution; 4) reasoning of problem's solution and presentation it for others (thought's objectification). The critical thinking is used for concrete situation tasks solving and it is first of all practical thinking for real problem solving. Key words: critical thinking, History teaching methods, social science education, methodology of critical thinking development, high school, higher education.
У статті представлена функціональна модель критичного мислення, в якій зазначені та охарактеризовані основні етапи цього мисленнєвого процесу та сфера його застосування. Критичне розмірковування відбувається у чотири етапи: 1) усвідомлення проблеми або зіткнення з проблемою; 2) проблемна ситуація та проблемна задача створюють певну перешкоду в досягненні мети – ситуацію утруднення; 3) переструктурування знань, способів дій, власних установок, досвіду та знаходження ідеї правильного розв " язку; 4) обґрунтування віднайденого рішення та представлення його іншим (об " єктивація думки). Критичне мислення використовується для вирішення конкретних ситуативних завдань, а це передовсім практичне мислення для розв " язання реальних проблем. Ключові слова: критичне мислення, методика навчання історії, суспільствознавча освіта, методика розвитку критичного мислення, старша школа, вища школа.

Teacher's job satisfaction has been considered a very important element in the training and development of pupils in their early academic years. This study investigates the impact of �five determinants of the teacher's job satisfaction in the context of primary and secondary schools, when controlling for their age, gender, experience, marital status and education. These fi�ve determinants include occupational stress, empowerment, interpersonal relationships, working conditions and self-e�fficacy. A sample, of 280 respondents, is drawn from school teachers of Karachi. Principal component and hierarchical multiple regression analyses are used to test the proposed hypotheses. With exception of self-effi�cacy, the results show that occupational stress, empowerment, interpersonal relationships and working conditions have been found statistically signifi�cant predictor of teacher's job satisfaction in Karachi. Therefore, the school administration and management should mainly c...

This comparative study has a two-fold aim. On the one hand, it provides a description of the national educational framework – legislative provisions, institutional strategies and policies – and the regional and local practices regarding the presence of Education for Democratic Citizenship (EDC) competences in the educational process. On the other hand, it brings together two educational systems that share a full commitment to European values and principles, but which are based on historically different and distant cultures. More specifically, this research starts from the presentation of EDC in the two contexts, comparing the presence of the EDC competences in policy and strategy documents, academic curricula and syllabi of study programmes relevant for EDC, focusing on the role and importance of education as a site of learning for democratic citizenship. Overall, it capitalizes the results obtained in the joint research work carried out within the international joint project "...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self efficacy and emotional intelligence levels of university students. The participants were 534 (382 females and 152 males) university students. Data were collected using the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Scale (adapted by Acar, 2001) and the Self-Efficacy Scale (adapted by PalancA±, 2004). It was found that there was a positive relationship between social self-efficacy and personal awareness, interpersonal relations, stress management, general mood and adaptability scores. It was also found that personal awareness, interpersonal relations and general mood explain social self-efficacy.

Engaging Difference discusses how to develop strategies to engage difference that work for both students and professors in multicultural classrooms. The contributions to this volume discuss specific pedagogical techniques (for example, the use of novels, web resources, and personal narratives) and the ways in which these have been applied in the classroom and in related educational activities. One contribution addresses the issues related to the freedom of speech in diverse classrooms. The essays are rooted in relevant theoretical perspectives from active learning literature, including emerging approaches on intersectional pedagogies. All authors are practitioners engaged in teaching in college, and several have previous high school teaching experience. They openly discuss challenges related to teaching in diverse classrooms and suggest pedagogical strategies to thrive in diverse environments.

In this paper I attempt to delineate some of the socio-historical reasons for the under-development of Sociology in Kerala, taking up the specific context of the state and linking it to the general status of the discipline in India from pre-independence times. From this I turn to the absence of professional sociologists in the spheres of planning and public engagement. A discussion of the way Sociology is practiced today, its institutional contexts, and its relevance follows. I argue that the discipline is in danger of disappearing unless course corrections are made. This could be in the form of increased student and faculty exchange and exposure. The active promotion of bilingual education could also be a step in the right direction, given the range of social scientific debates happening in Malayalam outside the realm of professional sociology. Students of Sociology should be encouraged to reflect and write about society. In this manner, we could create a space for the discipline in the public sphere of Kerala and bring about the practice of a ‘public sociology’. An ‘autonomous sociological tradition’ however, may take longer in forming. I conclude with an examination of the self-perception of sociologists in Kerala from a micro-sociological perspective.

This paper presents the theoretical framework, application and final outcomes of a pilot test designed as a possible model for assessing students' historical thinking in Secondary Education. It is based both on widely accepted historical thinking concepts and on the assessment framework developed by PISA. The test tries to assess what could be named as the three major competences in history: "explain historically", "use of sources as historical evidence" and "understanding the features of historical knowledge". It includes several stimuli (texts, images…) and a total of 39 items. The field trial of the test was applied to a convenience sample of 893 10th and 11th grade students, aged 16 to 18 years. Their answers were analysed statistically according to the Item Response Theory (IRT), and the results uphold the validity and reliability of the test instrument. The IRT analysis also enables us to take a first step towards defining levels of achievemen...

This study investigates the impact of five determinants of the rewards system on employee’s motivation in the context of private schools. A sample of 310 respondents is drawn from the private school teachers of Karachi. The rewards system was measured through five independent variables including salary offered, recognition, promotion, working content, and working conditions. By using exploratory factor and regression analyses, the results show that except salary offer, rests of the four variables have been found statistically significant to predict teacher’s motivation. However, the recognition of efforts followed by working conditions have revealed the greatest impact on teacher’s motivation. Thus, the management of the private schools should not only recognize the efforts of their teaching staff but also concentrate on revising and enriching their working conditions to increase their level of motivation. A major contribution of this paper from the theoretical point-of-view is that...

In the history of modern and contemporary academic geography, debates have surged concerning regional geography as both a method of geographical research and a form of pedagogy. Whereas regional geography dominated the discipline in the first half of the twentieth century, since the mid-1950s controversy has ensued concerning the contributions that regional geography made (and makes) to the advancement of the discipline (Johnston, 1997). In this editorial I examine some of the discourse from the 1950s to the present surrounding the debate on regional geography as an integral part of the discipline and some of the patterns evident from this discourse. It is beyond the scope and the intention of this paper to provide an exhaustive review of these debates. However, opinions by geographers from representative times are provided and framed in their respective historical contexts. I find a recurrence of similar themes as to whether regional geography should or should not remain a part of geographic education, yet despite the years of controversy surrounding this issue, geographers have not come to a clear consensus. Based on this observation, I argue that despite the cyclical trends of regional geography as an ideology and pedagogical philosophy and the longstanding controversy surrounding its preservation in geographic curricula, it serves several important purposes and should remain a fundamental component of geographic training and education. One notices the beginnings of the divergence of geographers' opinions regarding regional geography early on in the literature. Robert S. Platt (1957, p. 187), former President of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), called attention to some of the mutual misunderstandings between advocates and adversaries to the regional approach: " Probably regional geography has been hindered by an old pair of definitions contrasting systematic and regional geography. According to this couplet, systematic geography deals with something about every part of the world, and regional geography deals with everything about some part of the world. Under this limitation, regional geography could not be systematic, and systematic geography could not be regional. " Platt argued that even though this disagreement in the discipline is founded on extreme

The development of new information technologies increase the power of social media as a political communication tool day by day. The main features which seperates social media from tradional media are concurency, interaction, user oriented content, the active recevier model. So, the social media has been an active vehicle which is easy to reach and cheap for reaching the target market for political acitivities. These specific features which social media have are literally important not only for political organizations but also economical establishments. Social media is a vital vehicle for political campaign strategies and public relations for all kind of organizations. In this research, USA President: Barack Obama and President of Republic of Turkey: Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s social media usage practices in Facebook as a part of their polutical communication strategies are examined. According to the results of this study, it is aimed to be analysed the reflection of two different polit...

This research was designed to assist difficulties in producing a quality three dimensional (3D) visual object among architecture undergraduate students at Polytechnic Malacca, Malaysia. This study focuses on a studio practice process of illustration drawing based on a style used by a prominent architect, Jomathir. Jomathir produces hybrid 'Art' and 'Architecture Graphic Presentation Drawing' (A+AGPD) as illustrative graphic presentation. This research adopted qualitative research approach. The methods used to collect data were interview, observation and artefact analysis. The organization of Line Visual Art (LVA) was analysed based on art elements which include appearance, line, shape, form, texture and colour in order to form Three Dimensional Illustration Line Drawing Objects Manually (3DiLDom). The process consists of the best technique by Jomathir as Subject Matter Expert (SME) using researchers exploring analysis study and synthesize the work of ‘studio practice...