Development of an Attitude Scale for the use of Curent Events in Social Studies

Abstract

The aim of this study is to develop a measurement tool that can determine the attitudes of social studies teachers and classroom teachers towards the use of current events in the social studies course. The scale consists of 23 five-point Likert-type items. The scale form consisting of 40 items prepared by the researchers was administered to a total of 394 teachers, including 303 classroom teachers and 91 social studies teachers working in different provinces of Turkey. As a result of the EFA, it was determined that the scale consists of 23 items and 2 sub-dimensions. The first sub-factor consisting of 14 items explains 40.44% of the variance of the related attitude variable, while the second sub-factor consisting of 9 items explains 12.99% of the variance of the related attitude variable. This two-factor structure explains 53.43% of the total variance. According to CFA analysis, values of χ2 / df = 2.73 (p = .000); RMSEA = 0.098; NFI = 0.90; CFI = 0.94; GFI = 0.77; NNFI = 0.97; and IFI = 0.94 were found. These findings reveal that the scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool to measure attitudes towards the use of current events in the social studies course. The original form of the scale is in Turkish.