Abstract:

This study investigated the effect of the blended learning method enriched by material development in the elementary school social studies courses on students’ academic achievement and explored their views towards this model. In this study, information communication technologies (ICT) and manual tools were used together. In this respect, the map model developed as instructional material for classroom application and the web-supported digital contents for out of school utilization in the elementary school social studies courses were used in the study. The study was conducted with elementary fourth grade students. It consisted of two randomly selected classes with 60 students as the experimental group and two classes with 58 students as the control group. Activities were designed according to 12 learning outcomes in the “People, Places, and Environments” and “Culture and Heritage” units. An academic achievement test (alpha = 0.76) and an open-ended question form were utilized as data collections tools in the study. By the end, it was concluded that the experimental group, exposed to blended learning activities enriched by material development, scored statistically significantly higher in academic achievement than the control group and the students found the method entertaining and educational.

Keywords: