Abstract:

Primary education is quite important in terms of preparing children for life, and providing them with specific habits and skills. Students will reinforce, enrich, and use the skills and knowledge that acquired during primary education throughout their lives. Social Studies and Civic Education courses are quite important in teaching skills and knowledge to students that they use throughout their lives. Civic Education course is taught at the first, second and third degrees, while Social Studies course is taught at the fourth and fifth degrees of the primary school education. It is known that, with respect to their developmental characteristics, children from first to fifth grade of the elementary level are in the concrete operational level. And starting from the fifth grade, students pass into the formal operational period. These facts are also taken into consideration in preparation of the relevant curricula. This research is a comparative case study using survey method. Numerical values obtained using quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques were used in the study. The population of the study consisted of 4th and 5th grade students studying at 8 primary education schools located in a number of towns of the Istanbul province. And the sample is composed of 559 students from total of 16 classrooms, 8 from among 4th grade and 8 from 5th grade, which were selected from the population using random sampling method, in the 2008-2009 school year. The quantitative data of the study were collected through a questionnaire, while the qualitative data were obtained from open-ended questions that were asked to 40 students who were randomly selected among students constituting the sample. Oral and written answers were obtained from open-ended questions. The data collected through questionnaires were subjected to evaluation on computer environment. Percentage distribution of answers that were given to questionnaires were measured during the statistical analysis, and the data obtained from open-ended questions were subjected to content analysis. The data obtained from the content analysis were coded within the framework of specific categories. The quantitative and qualitative data were tabularized and interpreted by comparison. It is also considered that this study, which aims to evaluate the Social Studies Curriculum that is based on constructivist approach on the fourth and fifth grade levels through views of students, will fill an important gap. Key words: Social Studies, students views, primary education.

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