Abstract:

The purpose of this study is the importance of museum visits upon adopting the historical and cultural values in Social Studies Teaching. The study group of the research included totally 32 students studying at Mersin University, Faculty of Education, and Primary School Education Department in 2011-2012 academic year. Within the scope of Social Sciences Teaching, Mersin Museum, Mersin Naval Museum, and Tarsus Museum were visited once with the study group. Qualitative research methodology was used in the research. The data collection tool was an open-ended questionnaire form included 3 questions. While creating the question form, the aspects such as how the use of museum visits in Social Sciences lesson can affect the interest of students towards the lesson, what kind of effects museum visits have effects upon adopting the importance of historical and cultural values, whether they consider to apply such studies when they enter upon their career, and if yes how they will perform this were all emphasized. The data obtained from the openended question form were analyzed after performing the descriptive analysis. In accordance with the answers, codes were created, and the created codes were correlated, and views of students were interpreted by the researchers. In the research, it was concluded that activities such as museum visits increased the interest of students towards the lesson, was highly influential upon getting the students adopt historical and cultural values, and the students planned to apply such kind of studies when they enter upon their teaching profession. The importance of sightseeing studies to the historical places and on-site observation have great importance upon teaching of historical subjects.

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