Abstract:

The concept of war and peace has been discussed in all regions of the world in every age throughout history. The purpose of this study is to reveal the meanings attributed by the secondary-school students to the concept of war and peace by asking them to draw pictures. To that end, the students were asked to draw pictures expressing the concept of war and peace. The students attending the 5th-10th grade took part in the study. 111 students from the 5th grade, 108 students from the 6th grade, 103 students from the 7th grade, 93 students from the 8th grade, 76 students from the 9th grade and 83 students from the 10th grade participated in the study.The study is based on document analysis. Considering the study, the lower-grade students generally addressed the concept of war in its real terms. The images in the pictures are planes, bombs and guns killing and injuring people and leaving them disabled. Wars hurt people. Higher-grade students tend to symbolize the concept of war. The pictures drawn by the lower-grade students are more creative and authentic than those of the higher-grade students, which may result from the fact that these students are affected by the social media less than the older students. The pictures drawn by the students usually represent modern wars. The Independence War and Dardanelles War were depicted in the students' pictures. On the other hand, many wars are explained in course books of history and social studies. It is considered beneficial to make studies on this topic by sociologists, psychologists and educators

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