Abstract:

The aim of the current study is to determine the effects of analogy technique practices (originally based on the interdisciplinary teaching approach) on the conceptual development of fourth grade primary school students in social studies. The case study, which is one of the qualitative research techniques, was adopted as the research design of the study. The sample of the study was determined using the criterion sampling technique, which is one of the purposive sampling types. The sample consists of 24 students (12 girls and 12 boys) selected from the same fourth grade class from a primary school in Yüreğir, Adana during the spring term of 2014-2015. The teaching process in the study lasted six weeks and was directed by the researchers. The data of the study was gathered using worksheets, semi-structured interviews and the researcher’s journal. Worksheets delivered at the beginning of the teaching process and they were collected from students at the end of every lesson for analysis. Additionally, teachers were interviewed so as to know about students and to learn about their opinions and thoughts concerning their performances in order to provide the researcher objectivity in study. Students were interviewed both before and after the implementation, and the researcher’s journal was also completed with observations of students’ performances regularly following every implementation. Data regarding teacher’s views, students’ views and the researcher’s journal was analyzed with the content analysis technique. The data obtained from worksheets was analyzed descriptively with the Worksheets Assessment and Scoring Key (WASK) which was designed by the researcher and included three scoring categories (1-3): Acceptable, Partly Acceptable and Unacceptable. The quantitative data was evaluated using ANOVA for repeated measures and the significance level was p? .05. The study findings suggest that it’s possible comprehend the features of abstract concepts with interdisciplinary teaching approach based analogy technique practices. This training process is also positively affected by students’ reasoning levels, foreknowledge, interests, motivation levels and the

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