An Assessment of students’ attitudes towards values in Social Studies curriculum

Abstract

Social Studies curriculum, which aims at training elementary school students as good and responsible citizens, prepares them for social life. In this direction, it is aimed to cause students gain values by means of Social Studies curriculum. With this descriptive study we determined the attitudes of elementary school students towards patriotism, cultural values, respect, environment and nature, responsibility and scientific attitude. The study was administered in 14 elementary schools in Ergani, Diyarbakır, during fall term of 2009-2010 academic year. Data for this descriptive study were collected through a 24-item five-point Likert-type scale from a total of 1360 (652 female and 708 male) seventh grade students. Social Studies curriculum was determined to be effective to cause the students gain the values. While no statistically difference was found among the attitudes of students towards values in terms of income variable, statistically significant differences were found in terms of socio-economic level of the schools and gender of the students. It is offered to improve socio-economic level and facilities of the schools, provide necessary equipment and build home-school coordination to conduct value education effectively.