A Study on the Historical Analysis and Interpretation Skills of Social Studies and Classroom Teachers

Abstract

Significant changes have been made in the training of social sciences and history courses to reflect the adoption of the constructivist approach into education, curricula and classroom practices. In teaching social studies and history, instead of thinking about traditional historical teaching based on the knowledge of events, places, dates, names and targets, students who have historical thinking skills are those who question, research, and answer questions by providing evidence and evaluating documents, historical places and historical remains besides just the textbook. There is a need for teachers responsible for the education of students to have historical thinking skills. In this context, the purpose of this study is to determine the opinions of classroom and social studies teachers on the competencies of Historical Analysis and Interpretation, which is an important sub-dimension of Historical Thinking Skills. This study creates a screening model that aims to describe the method of research which exists in the past, or exists now, and tries to identify it as if it were within the conditions of the person or object that constituted the subject of the research. The “Historical Analysis and Interpretation Skill Self-Efficacy Scale” developed by the researchers was used in the study with classroom and social studies teachers working in the Adıyaman province of Turkey. Suggestions are also presented according to the results of the research.