Abstract:

The aim of this study is to ascertain the perceptions of secondary school students with regard to history, their opinions with regard to history and the factors that influence the formation of historical consciousness in these students. This is a phenomenological study, which is one of the qualitative research designs. The study was carried out on 30 9th, 10th and 11th grade students, 15 of whom are female and 15 are male, attending a state high school in the city center of Sivas. The participants were chosen using maximum sampling. In the study “Student Interview Form” developed by the researcher was used to collect data. In data analysis process, content analysis method was used. According to research findings, although most of the students taking part in the study stated that they were interested in history, they could not state anything beyond bookish definitions. While some students stated that history is important both for today and future, the number of these students was not enough and they could not connect past events to current event or to the current world affairs and could not use them to solve problems. Therefore, it was concluded that they were inadequate in terms of developing historical consciousness. Movies, pictures, poems, anthems etc. which are related to history are found more interesting, attractive and motivating for students compared to history text books and courses. Almost all of the students stated that their history knowledge is not at adequate level. They stated that the reason for this is that history is a large area and the historical subjects are continuously repeated in courses. In this sense, it was concluded that there is a need to make a change in history curriculum of secondary education. In secondary education history curriculum, important areas can be chosen and profoundly studied instead of trying to cover a large period from the beginning of Turkish history and thus the content can be limited. Thus, unnecessary repetition of subjects in history education will be avoided. Key Words: History perception, history consciousness, secondary education students GİRİŞ Batı dillerinde tarih kelimesi (hıstory, hıstoria vb kelimeleri” Yunanca “i

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