Abstract:

In line with the developing and changing world conditions, the understanding of education is also changing. According to this understanding, education can be done anywhere, unlike the four walls. There has been a need to determine the orientations of the studies on out-of-school learning environments, which have increased in number recently, by examining them with a holistic eye. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the published studies on "out-of-school learning environments" in postgraduate theses, which can be accessed from the database of the Council of Higher Education Thesis Center, and in the journals scanned in the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) from Turkey between 2012-2021. It is aimed to determine the orientation of the thesis and articles in question and to reveal their strengths and weaknesses. The research was carried out using the document analysis method, which is one of the analytical research types. The sample of the study was determined by the criterion sampling method, which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. In this direction, the sample of the research consists of the articles in the journals scanned in SSCI between the years 2012-2021 and the postgraduate theses scanned in the database of the Council of Higher Education Thesis Center. The sample of the research was determined as criteria for the keywords “out-of-school learning (environments), out-of-school education, informal learning, non-formal learning environments”. According to this criterion, 74 studies, including 17 doctoral theses, 52 master's theses, and 5 journal articles, were reached. The studies reached were analyzed using the publication classification form and the data were analyzed descriptively. It has been determined that 95.8% of the studies written in Turkish are 62% in the field of teaching and 73% are written in the field of science research. It was determined that 39.2% of the studies were carried out with mixed methods, 59.5% of the study groups were determined according to the convenient sampling method, and 41.9% of the sample consisting of secondary school students between 31-100 were preferred. In terms of subject content, it was determined that it contains 50% of attitude-interest-determination-perception. It was determined that 51.1% interview, 50% perception/interest/attitude test and 31.1% questionnaire were used in data collection tools. It was determined that 60.3% t-test and 60% content analysis were preferred more as data analysis methods. At the end of the research, suggestions were presented that studies on out-of-school learning environments could be applied in different levels and disciplines and that similar studies could be done in TR indexed journals with different criteria.

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