Abstract:

This study descriptively examined the studies conducted between 2000-2013 in the field of elementary Life Science and Social Studies in Turkey. A total of 137 studies from 22 national journals that involved objectives, content, methods, assessment and evaluation of Life Science and Social Studies were included in data analysis. Studies were categorized based on publication year, study field, research design, type of data, data collection methods and study topics. According to the findings, 18% of the studies were in Life Science, 77% were in Social Studies and 6% were in both of these fields. Approximately half of the studies used descriptive research design while one third used experimental and quasi-experimental design. In terms of the type of data, 42% of studies were quantitative and 40% were qualitative; 8% of them used mixed methods. As for data collection methods, survey/ questionnaire was the most frequently used method. Most commonly used study topics were teaching method, value/skill education and programme/textbook examination. The teaching method studies tended to be experimental whereas other studies were generally descriptive

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