THE EFFECT OF THE USE OF CONCEPT CARTOONS IN GAINING OF CITIZENSHIP CONSCIOUSNESS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

İLKÖĞRETİM ÖĞRENCİLERİNE VATANDAŞLIK BİLİNCİ KAZANDIRMADA KAVRAM KARİKATÜRÜ KULLANIMININ ETKİSİ

Abstract

One of the most important functions of primary education is to give the necessary information and to provide individuals with the minimum knowledge and skills to know their surroundings, to build healthy relationships, to have a broad view of the world and to use their rights as a citizen (Çubukçu&Gültekin, 2006). Through this education, the individuals who have reached the age of literacy do not only develop the knowledge of arithmetic, they also develop the awareness to live within a society and to become a good citizen. A good citizen is someone who is aware of his/her responsibilities and duties to the society, who is sure about himself/herself and respectful to differences, who cares about national independence and protects national values. It is possible to make individuals gain these features only through an effective citizenship education. Citizenship education is a multi-faceted process the aim of which is to develop citizenship awareness. Within this process, the most important duty of educators is to provide the students with correct modellings of citizenship concepts such as democracy, human rights and equality. However, when the literature is reviewed, it can be seen that students have some problems in their perceptions of citizenship concepts (Nayır&Akar,2009). Sabancı (2008) suggests that the reason for these problems is that these concepts are abstract concepts which are difficult to experience in real life. Thus, with reference to this view, this study analyzes the efficacy of using conceptual cartoons in developing citizenship awareness in primary school students. The study was prepared with an experimental design with pre-test and post-test control groups and 62 5th grade students participated in the study. The lessons were taught by using conceptual cartoons in the experimental group while they were taught in line with the 2005 Primary School Social Sciences curriculum in the control group. “One Country, One Flag Unit Achievement Test” developed by the researcher and “Social Sciences Lesson Attitude Scale” developed by Deveci (2002) were used in the study as data collection tool. Independent samples t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for the analysis of the data. The results of the study showed that although using conceptual cartoons caused a significant difference in students’ achievement and permanence levels, it did not influence students’ attitudes towards the lesson. The data were interpreted in the light of literature and recommendations were made. STRUCTURED ABSTRACT Introduction One of the most important functions of primary education is to give the necessary information and to provide individuals with the minimum knowledge and skills to know their surroundings, to build healthy relationships, to have a broad view of the world and to use their rights as a citizen (Çubukçu&Gültekin, 2006). Through this education, the individuals who have reached the age of literacy do not only develop the knowledge of arithmetic, they also develop the awareness to live within a society and to become a good citizen. A good citizen is someone who is aware of his/her responsibilities and duties to the society, who is sure about himself/herself and respectful to differences, who cares about national independence and protects national values. It is possible to make individuals gain these features only through an effective citizenship education. Citizenship education is a multi-faceted process the aim of which is to develop citizenship awareness. Within this process, the most important duty of educators is to provide the students with correct modellings of citizenship concepts such as democracy, human rights and equality. However, when the literature is reviewed, it can be seen that students have some problems in their perceptions of citizenship concepts (Nayır&Akar, 2009). Sabancı (2008) suggests that the reason for these problems is that these concepts are abstract concepts which are difficult to experience in real life. Thus, with reference to this view, the aim of study was expressed as follows: What are the effects of using concept cartoons to help students attain citizenship conscience in students’ academic success, attitudes towards social sciences and the permanence of learning? It was sought answers that the following sub-problems in accordance with this problem in the study: 1)Is there a sıgnificant difference between the mean scores of the academic achievement post test of the groups. 2)Is there a significant difference between the post test mean scores regarding the groups’ social science attitudes? 3)Is there a significant difference between the mean scores of the permenance test of the groups? Method This study that was examined the effect of the use of concept cartoons in gaining of citizenship consciousness of primary school students was prepared according to the “pre-test and post-test control group model. The study was carried out with 62 the fifth grade students who studied in a primary school in Asarcık district of Samsun. It was used “One Country One Flag” achievement test and “Attitude Scale Towards Social Sciences Course” as data collection tools. The achievement test was developed by researcher while considering related educational attainment. It was formed from 27 items. The other data collection tool was developed by Deveci (2002). The scale was used to determine students’ attitudes towards social studies lesson in the study. It was comprised of 31 items and six factors. The data collection tools were applied by students as pre-test, post-test and retention test. Datas were analyzed through a statistical package program. As well as calculations such as arithmetic mean, standard deviation, frequency and percentage; dependent and independent samples t-test, Wilcoxon signed rank test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for the analysis of the datas. Discussion, Conclusion and Suggestions The results of this study which examined the effects of Social Studies

Özet

Toplumu oluşturan bireylerin çevrelerini tanımaları ve sağlıklı ilişkiler kurmaları, geniş bir dünya görüşüne sahip olmaları, vatandaşlık haklarını kullanabilmek için gerekli bilgileri edinmeleri ve asgari düzeyde bilgi ve beceri kazanmaları ilköğretimin en önemli işlevlerindendir (Çubukçu& Gültekin, 2006). Okuma yazma çağına gelmiş bireyler, bu eğitim aracılığıyla yalnızca okuma-yazma ile aritmetik bilgisi edinmez, toplumla birlikte yaşama ve iyi vatandaş olma bilinci de kazanırlar. İyi vatandaş, topluma karşı görev ve sorumluluklarının bilincinde, kendinden emin, farklılıklara saygılı, ulusal bağımsızlığa önem veren ve ulusal değerlerine sahip çıkabilen kişidir. Bu özelliklere sahip bireylerin yetiştirilmesi etkili bir vatandaşlık eğitimi ile mümkündür. Vatandaşlık eğitimi, vatandaşlık bilinci kazandırmayı amaçlayan çok yönlü bir süreçtir. Bu süreçte eğitimcilere düşen en büyük görev, öğrencilerde demokrasi, insan hakları, eşitlik gibi vatandaşlık kavramlarına ilişkin doğru yapılanmalar sağlamaktır. Ancak literatür incelendiğinde öğrencilerin vatandaşlık kavramlarını algılayışlarında birtakım problemlerin olduğu görülür (Nayır&Akar, 2009). Sabancı(2008) bu durumu kavramların günlük hayatta tecrübe edilmesi zor, soyut kavramlar olmalarına dayandırmaktadır. Nitekim söz konusu araştırma da bu düşünceden hareketle ilköğretim öğrencilerine vatandaşlık bilinci kazandırmada kavram karikatürü kullanımının etkililiğini sorgulamaktadır. Ön test- son test kontrol gruplu deneysel desende hazırlanan araştırmaya, 62 ilköğretim beşinci sınıf öğrencisi katılmıştır. Deney grubunda dersler, kavram karikatürleri kullanılarak gerçekleştirilirken, kontrol grubunda 2005 ilköğretim Sosyal Bilgiler programına uygun olarak sürdürülmüştür. Araştırmada veri toplama aracı olarak, araştırmacı tarafından geliştirilen "Bir Ülke Bir Bayrak Ünitesi Başarı Testi" ve Deveci (2002) tarafından geliştirilen "Sosyal Bilgiler Dersi Tutum Ölçeği" kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde bağımsız örneklemler t testi ile Mann-Whitney U testinden yararlanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, kavram karikatürü kullanımının öğrencilerin başarı ve kalıcılık düzeylerinde anlamlı farklılık yaratmasına karşın derse yönelik tutumlarını etkilemediği gözlenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, literatür ışığında yorumlanmış ve çeşitli önerilerde bulunulmuştur.