Turkish History Education Journal (Oct 2021)
Opinions of students and teachers on the acquisition of the general objectives of the history course curriculum
Abstract
The most important aim of this course for the students is to help them acquire historical knowledge, historical thinking skills, and basic values, which constitute the general objectives of the secondary education history course curriculum. The main purpose of this research was to determine the opinions of students and teachers, who are the elements that constitute part of the secondary education history teaching system, on the acquisition of the general objectives of history courses and the similar and different aspects between these opinions. In this study, an interview form with semi-structured open-ended questions was used as the main qualitative research method and data collection tool. In the collection of the qualitative data, interview forms for 42 students studying in 4 different high schools, and 23 history teachers working in the Yozgat Merkez, Yerköy, and Sorgun counties were used, and the obtained data were analyzed using the descriptive analysis method. In light of the results obtained in the research, in the information dimension, Ottoman history under the theme of Turkish history knowledge and recent world history subjects under the world history theme emerged as the subjects that were thought to be acquired the most according to the opinions of both the students and the teachers. Furthermore, the students and teachers were of the opinion that there is a problem/failure in learning world history subjects when compared to Turkish history subjects. In the skill dimension, being able to establish a cause-effect relationship was agreed upon by both the students and the teachers; however, even though the students mostly thought that they have acquired empathy and analysis and interpretation skills, the teachers argued that they did not possess those skills. According to the results of the value dimension, the value of patriotism came to the forefront as the fundamental value that was thought to be acquired the most according to the opinions of both the students and the teachers. In addition, the teachers emphasized the responsibility and self-control values the most under the unacquired values theme.
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