Teaching and Learning of Middle School Social Studies in Turkey An Analysis of Curriculum Implementation

This study is part of a larger research project designed to investigate social studies teaching at middle and high school levels in Turkey. This paper assesses curriculum implementation in social studies courses at middle school level from the perspectives of teachers and students. The study design included 88 middle schools in 22 provinces representing the seven geographic regions in Turkey. Social studies teachers of history, geography, and civics in all of the schools at all three grade levels were asked to participate and a stratified random sample of students were selected to represent all grade levels and courses. Two separate questionnaires were designed for the two groups to explore their perceptions of the teaching and learning process in social studies courses. Results are organized under three parts: (1) teachers' perceptions of the curriculum guidelines they use; (2) teachers' and students' assessments of the teaching and learning process in social studies courses in terms of teaching/learning activities, instructional materials, types of assignments and evaluation methods used; and (3) the impact of social studies courses on students from their point of view. (EH