Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to determine the attitudes of fourth and fifth graders' attitudes towards the social studies course and the opinions of teachers towards the course. 1055 students (488 girls and 567 boys) attending the primary schools in the province of İzmir participated in the research. Data were collected via the Scale for Attitudes Towards the Social Studies Course and the Scale for the Ideas of Teachers' Opinions About The Social Studies Course. The statistical techniques Percentage, Standard Deviation, t-test, Analysis of Variance and Scheffé Test were used to analyze the data. The research has discerned that students have positive attitudes towards the Social Studies course in general, that girls have more positive attitudes than boys do, and that the students in public schools have more positive attitudes than those in private schools do. According to the results of the analyses, the teachers have positive attitudes towards the Social Studies Course in general, their attitudes do not vary significantly in terms of gender, and the teachers with an experience of 1-10 years have comparatively more negative attitudes.

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