Özet:

As it is stated in social studies curriculum’s first items and objectives, social studies teachers’ priority is “raising citizens who are able to develop critical thinking and analysis skills for the problems encountered.” For this reason it is very crucial that social studies teachers should be aware of what their philosophical perspectives are and with which philosophical perspectives social studies teaching can be facilitated. Therefore, this study aims to reveal social studies teacher candidates’ opinions towards philosophy course. In this study, wholistic approach for philosophy was adopted, and focus group interview was conducted. Study group was formed in maximum variation sampling. In selection process of participants, the academic success of the participants on philosophy course in 2014-2015 academic year spring semester. In the process, teacher candidates having taken the course were categorized into three groups namely, upper, middle and lower groups. In every group, two participants were selected randamly regarding their gender. Participants attended the study voluntarily. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used. The form was evaluated by two field specialists and decided to be appropriate for the study. In order to provide reliability of the study, obtained data were evaluated by two different graders seperately and codes and themes were determined. In addition, participant control was also involved to raise the reliability of the study. Content analysis was applied for the analysis of the study. As a result of the study, it was revealed that teacher candidates’ philosophy course grades and philosophical perspectives did not match and it was considered that the results were affected by the curve system. Key words: Philosophy, focus group interview, social studies education

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