An Evaluation of Social Studies Textbooks in Turkey: A Content Analysis for Curriculum and Content Design

Abstract

The objective of this study is to evaluate the content of social studies textbooks, which are written and taught based upon the social studies curriculum adopted between 1968-2018, in terms of the curriculum and content designs, and some general educational principles. For this purpose, document analysis, one of the qualitative research methodology, was used in this study. Accordingly, 12 social studies textbooks for different levels of class written based upon the social studies curriculum adopted in 1968, are the primary document resources of the research. The curriculum, upon which the textbooks are based, was also used as resource. For data analysis, content analysis technique was used. The results obtained from the study show that the generally-adopted approach to develop the content of social studies textbooks was single-disciplinary approach before 2005; however it was replaced by interdisciplinary approach then, with the impact of changing curriculum. Another study result shows that the content of social studies textbooks was developed based upon the disciplines of history and geography in general, and also citizenship to a limited extent before 2005. However, as it is determined, many other disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics, science and technology in addition to those specified above, have a major impact on the content of textbooks since this date. Also, the relevant results indicate that the knowledge content was much richer in textbooks before 2005; however, in the current social studies textbooks, the knowledge intensity has decreased as the knowledge variety has increased in time. It has been determined that the social studies textbooks are developed by considering the chronology and from near-to-far principles in general so far.