Attitudes and Beliefs of 4th Grade Primary School Students towards Social Studies Course

Abstract

The social studies course can be described as an ongoing process that is attempted to prepare the individuals for life through transfer of culture and ensures the socialization of the individuals. It is thought that students’ beliefs and attitudes towards this course are essential for achieving the objectives of the course. The objective of this research is to determine the attitudes and belief levels of 4th grade students towards the social studies course with respect to various variables and to review the relationship between attitudes and belief levels towards the social studies course. During the research, descriptive survey and relational survey models, which are both quantitative research methods, were used in combination. The study population consists of primary school students throughout Turkey in their 4th grade during the 2022-2023 academic year. 1326 primary school students in the 4th grade were selected from 7 geographical regions of Turkey by utilizing the simple random method and constitute the sample group of the study. The research data were collected using the “Social Studies Course Attitude Scale” and the “Social Studies Course Belief Scale”. As a result of the study, it was determined that there was a positive and moderate relationship between the students’ attitudes and beliefs towards the social studies course, and it was noted that students’ attitudes and beliefs towards social studies course were significantly high.