Pre-test the Effect of Teaching Social Studies Course through Performing Arts on the Students’ Academic Achievement and Permanence of their Knowledge

The purpose of this study is to identify the effect of social studies teaching through performing arts on the academic achievement and permanence of knowledge of performing arts and students. The participants of this research consisted of 250 6th grade students studying at five secondary schools located in different educational regions within boundaries of the central Elazığ Province (from Turkey) in the 2015 and 2016 spring term. The study was conducted on 5 experimental (n = 125) and 5 control (n = 125) groups randomly selected. A mixed method involving qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Academic achievement test and an interview consisting of open-ended questions were used. On quantitative dimension of the study, pretest-posttest control group quasi-experimental design was used. On qualitative dimension, students were interviewed. During the study, while social studies course teaching was carried out with the experimental groups through performing arts, in the control groups, teaching activities stipulated by the current syllabus were carried out. The application period of the study lasted for eight weeks in total with three hours of teaching weekly in both groups. The statistical program (SPSS, version 21) was used analyzing the quantitative data obtained from the study. The N-VIVO-9 program was used for the analysis of qualitative data. As a result of the study, it was found that social studies teaching activities performed through performing arts were more successful in increasing student achievement than the activities stipulated by the current syllabus. However, as a result of the interviews, the results regarding the positive and negative aspects of the teaching activities performed in the experimental groups were obtained. It was found that the data obtained concerning the qualitative dimension of the study supported the data obtained concerning the quantitative dimension