Rebuilding the past through dusty stuff: How Turkish students respond to primary source based social studies education?

While the use of primary sources in education has long been an object of interest, their adoption is still lacking in social studies courses in Turkey. This work presents the results of a qualitative study conducted with the participation of 37 students and a social studies teacher with the aim to reveal 7th-grade students’ and teachers’ opinions on primary source-based activities used to teach a social studies unit. Semi-structured interviews, field observation notes, and primary source analysis handouts were used. We find that primary source-based activities helped participants to better understand the lessons, increased interest, motivation, and participation in the course, supported empathy development, and gave students the opportunity to express themselves. Some of the issues that emerged in the use of primary sources were the difficult readability of some of the sources, challenges in managing time effectively, and difficulty for some of the students to work in groups efficiently. Key Words: Primary source, social studies education, social studies education in Turkey

More than a virus: : How COVID 19 infected education in Turkey?

Purpose: We aim with this report to provide information on how the Covid-19 pandemic affected education and citizenship education in Turkey. Design: The report is based on literature review, the analysis of social media, and the observations of the authors. We provide a general framework of Turkish education after the pandemic using sources such as official statements from government offices; social media entries were analyzed to provide different perspectives. Finally, observations of the authors based on their experiences with distance learning were included in the report. Findings: We argue that despite the efforts of the state, there are still problems in the distance learning process, mainly relating to the access to online classes and the very limited room given to Covid-19 as a topic in social studies courses. In addition, we find that social media have played a significant role in increasing citizen participation as a consequence of the pandemi