Abstract:

This study was carried out in order to analyse social studies curricula of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Turkey comparatively. In line with this goal, social studies curricula available in Turkey at 4 th, 5th, 6th and 7th grades and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th grades have been used. The similarities and differences were tried to be revealed through studying and comparing social studies curricula in Turkey and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at primary and secondary school levels in terms of their educational aims, contents, processes, and assessment and evaluation tools. Throughout the study, qualitative research procedures were followed. The study was carried out by the help of document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods. In the study, descriptive research was used as a method and document analysis method was preferred for data collection technique because they comply with the aim of the study and it makes possible to study social studies curricula which are considered as published material. The obtained curricula were put to descriptive analysis after being studied in line with document research technique. At the end of the study, it was found the educational curricula of the two countries have significant differences in terms of their educational aims, content, process, and assessment and evaluation dimensions. It is understood that while Turkish social studies curriculum is based on educational philosophy of constructionism, social studies programme in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is mostly under the influence of the educational philosophy of behaviourism. In Turkey, social studies tradition is dominant in social sciences, but according to the characteristics of the themes, the approaches of reflective research field and citizenship transference are also used. However we found that citizenship transference approach is more effective in social studies curriculum in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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