The Study on Competencies of Prospective Teachers of Social Studies to Use Controversial Issues in Teaching

Authors : Döndü Özdemir

Pages : 241-274

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Publication Date : 2023-10-29

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study examines prospective social studies teachers’ competencies to use controversial issues in social studies. 45 prospective social studies teachers participated in the study using convergent parallel design. The data were collected through a self-competence scale developed by the researcher and the lesson plans prepared by the prospective teachers. The quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, and arithmetic average, as well as the independent samples t-test. The thematic analysis was used for the analysis of qualitative data. It was found that the prospective teachers think that they are competent at intermediate levels for teaching controversial issues in social studies classes. The results based on the analysis of the lesson plans reveal that prospective teachers can identify a wide range of acquisitions and controversial issues in compliance with the curriculum; however, they address these subjects with a content-based approach. It was further determined that a limited number of prospective teachers create contexts in which different opinions are expressed by building scenarios that contain dilemmas for the students; that the questions they make use of, are insufficient in terms of quality, although they include the questions regarding argumentation processes in their lesson plans and that most of the participants failed to develop a net assessment and evaluation strategy for the assessment of teaching of controversial issues. The study results reveal that prospective teachers’ competencies must be improved, especially regarding the teaching process of controversial issues.
Keywords : Sosyal bilgiler, tartışmalı konu, öğretmen adayı